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# tried

«tried» in Mova's school dictionary: **Past of «try»: made an effort to do something (I tried to…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

verb (past tense and past participle of try: try, tries, tried, trying); adjective (tried and tested)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Past of «try»: made an effort to do something (I tried to lift the box). [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tried/#m1)

2) Tested or tasted something to see what it is like (I tried sushi). [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tried/#m2)

3) Put on clothes to see if they fit (She tried on the shoes). [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tried/#m3)

4) Judged a person in a law court (He was tried for theft). [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tried/#m4)

5) Tried and tested / tried and true: proven to work well. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tried/#m5)

### sense in the lessons

At school effort matters: «I tried my best» and «Have you tried another way?» show a growth mindset. In maths, «I tried 5 and it was too small, so I tried 6» is trial and improvement. In science you try ideas and test them. In stories, characters try and fail before they succeed. Phrases: tried to, tried on, tried out, tried my best, tried and tested.

### examples

- I tried to lift the box, but it was too heavy. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tried/#x1)
- Have you tried the new ice cream flavour? [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tried/#x2)
- She tried on three dresses before choosing. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tried/#x3)
- We tried 4 × 6, but the answer was too small, so we tried 4 × 7. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tried/#x4)
- He tried his best, and that's what matters. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tried/#x5)
- They tried out for the football team. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tried/#x6)
- This is a tried and tested recipe. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tried/#x7)
- Michael had tried on his spectacles. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tried/#x8)

### note

Spelling: try → tried, tries (y changes to i), but trying keeps the y. «Tried to do» = made an effort; «tried doing» = did it as a test to see if it helps.

### In the corpora

- [With hundreds of thousands of kinds, beetles have tried almost every way of living.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/307-beetles-of-every-kind-stag-beetles-dung-beetles-fireflies-bombardiers-and-weevils/0/)
- [Alice says she tried "How doth the little busy bee" but "it all came different".](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/9-alice-ch5-part1-advice-from-a-caterpillar/12/)
- [The third swallow tried «stopping on» one year: «O the weary length of the nights!](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/57-willows-ch9-part2-the-swallows/13/)
- [Consonant + y changes to i before -ed (cried, tried) but stays before -ing (crying, trying).](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/7-adding-ed-and-ing-doubling-and-dropping-e/23/)
- [Answers at the back of a book are for checking your work after you have tried.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/201-cheating-in-tests-and-homework/12/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «tried» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tried/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.