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I've heard people say both. Which is the right one?

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3 Answers

up vote 4 down vote accepted

Try and produce the best output.

This is the right one. Before superlative adjectives you should use "the".

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Does this hold in all cases of "try and"? It often sounds incorrect to me. Is "Try and make it to tonight's concert." correct? – cam8001 Feb 16 '11 at 0:04
@cam8001: I believe yes, but this has got nothing with superlative adjectives. – Manoochehr Feb 16 '11 at 0:23
up vote 2 down vote

"Try to produce the best output" is more correct.

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up vote 2 down vote

I do not find "Produce best output" normal in any dialect of English that I recognise.

As Manoochehr says, superlatives usually need "the", but there is an idiom "for best results" (typically on instruction sheets and clothing labels), and I wonder if somebody has tried to generalise that construction.

I can't see that "try and" has any relevance.

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