“Try and finish that work to-day.”  Here the purpose is not to command that the work shall be finished, but that the trial shall be made.  As the sentence stands two distinct commands are given, first, that the trial shall be made, and, second, that the work must be completed.  The sentence should read, “Try to finish that work to-day.”

Use to instead of and in such expressions as “Try and make it convenient to come,” “Try and do your work properly,” “Try and think of your lessons,” “Try and go and see our sick neighbor.”
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CHAPTER III

 Contractions

Whatever may be said against employing contractions in dignified discourse, their use in colloquial speech is too firmly established to justify our censure.  But, in their use, as, indeed, in the use of all words, proper discrimination must be shown.

Just why haven’t, hasn’t, doesn’t, isn’t, wasn’t, are regarded as being in good repute, and ain’t, weren’t, mightn’t, oughtn’t, are regarded with less favor, and why shalln’t, willn’t are absolutely excluded, it would be difficult to explain.

Use determines the law of language, whether for single words, grammatical forms, or grammatical constructions.  Wherever a people, by common consent, employ a particular word to mean a certain thing, that word becomes an inherent part of the language of that people, whether it has any basis in etymology or not.  We must not wrest this law to our own convenience, however, by assuming that such words and phrases as are introduced and employed by the illiterate, or even by the educated, within a circumscribed territory, are, therefore, to be regarded as
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reputable words.  The sanction of all classes, the educated as well as the uneducated, throughout the entire country in which the language is spoken, is necessary and preliminary to the proper introduction of a new word into the language.

Ain’t

This word is a contraction of am not or are not, and can, therefore, be used only with the singular pronouns I and you, and with the plural pronouns we, you, and they, and with nouns in the plural.

I am not pleased.  I ain’t pleased.

You are not kind.  You ain’t kind.

They are not gentlemen.  They ain’t gentlemen.

These sentences will serve to illustrate the proper use of ain’t, if it is ever proper to use such an inelegant word as that.  “James ain’t a good student,” “Mary ain’t a skillful musician,” or “This orange ain’t sweet,” are expressions frequently heard, yet those who use them would be shocked to hear the same expressions with the proper equivalent am not or are not substituted for the misleading ain’t.

The expression ain’t is compounded of the verb am or are and the adverb not, and by the contraction the three vocal impulses I-am-not, or you-are-not, or they-are-not, are reduced to two.  By compounding the pronoun with the verb and preserving the full adverb,
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