Semantically, verbs of this type divide into four groups: (i) try, attempt; (ii) succeed (in/at), manage; (iii) miss, fail; (iv) practice, repeat. (We are here referring to the senses of manage and succeed in He managed to solve the problem, She succeeded in solving the problem, not those in She manages the business, He succeeded his father.)

Like the BEGINNING type, a TRYING verb is followed by another verb which it modifies semantically, but which is syntactically in a complement clause to it, e.g. He attempted to open the safe, He succeeded in opening the safe. Like BEGINNING, TRYING verbs are restricted to ING and Modal (FOR) TO complements with the subject omitted. The syntactic behavior of individual verbs is:

ING and Modal (FOR) TO complements—try;

most used with Modal (FOR) TO, can also take ING—attempt, manage;

only Modal (FOR) TO—fail;

only ING—succeed (in/at), miss, practice, repeat.

Try has two distinct but related senses, as can be seen in:

(1a) John tried to eat the cake

(1b) John tried eating the cake

(2a) John tried to travel by train

(2b) John tried travelling by train

The (a) alternatives indicate that John wanted to engage in the activity, but may well not have been able to; the (b) alternatives indicate that he did engage in it for a sample period. Thus (2a) could be used if he went to the station but found that the train was full. Sentence (2b) implies that he did travel by train for a while (for long enough to decide whether he preferred it to the bus). Another pair is John tried to catch the ball (but missed) and John tried catching the ball (during the team’s two-hour Welding practice).

Note that the first sense requires a Modal (FOR) TO and the second an ING complement clause. We will provide an explanation for this, and for the other complement possibilities of TRYING verbs.

Attempt is basically a synonym of the (a) sense of try. Like commence and complete, it implies a fairly significant task, with a degree of difficulty involved—compare He tried to climb to the top of that hill with He attempted to climb Mt Everest. (For simple, everyday things, e.g. She tried to eat all the pudding, it is scarcely felicitous to substitute attempt for try.)

Both manage and fail are likely to imply that a certain result was obtained only after considerable perseverance, in contrast to succeed (in/ at) and miss, e.g.

(3a) Fred managed to solve the puzzle (after weeks of trying)

(3b) Fred succeeded in solving the puzzle (perhaps at once, perhaps after a little effort)

(4a) John failed to hit the target (despite twenty attempts)

(4b) John missed hitting the target (perhaps with the only bullet he had)

Miss (to a greater extent than succeed) can be used where there was no effort at all—something can be missed by chance. Compare I failed to see Mary (despite looking all over the place) and I missed seeing Mary (I didn’t know she was calling in, and just happened to arrive after she’d left).

We have mentioned that just verbs of making, preparing, performing and consuming can be omitted after a BEGINNING verb. No such simple categorization can be given for verbs that may be omitted after a TRYING item. There is, however, a basic rule for omission after try, the central member of the type: a verb may be omitted when followed by a typical object, i.e. if its identity could be inferred from that object. Thus, on hearing She tried a new book, one would understand She tried reading a new book (since many more people read books than write or print or bind them); He tried the chocolate cake implies He tried eating the chocolate cake (not baking it). Some uses of try are semi-idiomatic—but do conform to the rule—e.g. He tried (to open) the door, She tried (to solve) the problem, and She tried (putting on) the pink dress (to see how it looked on her). Try out is a little different; this generally has an implement as object and substitutes for try using, e.g. He tried out the new axe.

Virtually any verb (except one from the LIKING or ANNOYING types) may be omitted after try if it could be recovered by an addressee from the specific context and/or from previous dialogue, e.g. ‘Where is the post office?’ ‘I don’t know, you’d better try (asking) Mary’. There is also ‘I offered Mary an apple but she refused it’ ‘Well, why don’t you try (offering her) a pear?’, where verb-plus-NP (offering her) is omitted. Note in fact that only one NP may follow try—that is, one could not say *Well, why don’t you try Mary an apple?, with offering omitted.

Omission of a verb is much rarer after attempt or manage, but is possible with an appropriate object, e.g. I’m going to attempt Everest next year or I managed the problem in the end (there is only one verb that could plausibly be substituted in each case—climb and solve respectively). With fail we get only He failed the exam/test, where to pass is implied. Miss freely omits a wide range of verbs, e.g. missed (seeing) Mary, missed (hitting) the target, missed (experiencing) that cyclone. Succeed (in/at) may, like fail, omit pass, e.g. I succeeded in (passing) the mathematics exam, and just a few other verbs, as in She succeeded at (playing) golf (well).

Practice refers to a continuous activity, typically described by the -ing form of a verb; deletion possibilities are virtually limited to playing, e.g. He practiced (playing) the clarinet. Repeat describes a delimited activity being done more than once—it may take an ING complement and the verb is likely to be omitted if its identity could be inferred from the object, e.g. Johnnie repeated (reciting) that poem all morning, and He repeated (making) the same old mistake.

Like the BEGINNING type, a TRYING verb may take an ACTIVITY or SPEECH ACT noun as object; in most cases there is an equivalent construction with a complement clause whose verb is related to the noun, e.g. Karen tried an apology (to Auntie Daphne) (but she ignored her) and Karen tried apologizing (to Auntie Daphne) (but she ignored her).

One difference from the BEGINNING type is that TRYING verbs are not used intransitively, with an ACTIVITY, STATE or SPEECH ACT noun as subject (parallel to The game continued, The offer finishes on Friday). This is because TRYING verbs relate to volition on the part of a HUMAN, who must be referred to, whereas in the world-view of speakers of English things may begin, continue and finish spontaneously, e.g. That fight just started (i.e. no one was really responsible for starting it), and My boring old life just continues on.