When talking of a task somebody is trying to achieve, is it better to use the present tense or the present progressive tense?
Between the following sentences, I find the first more correct.
I am trying to calculate the minimum angle for which the range of the projectile is maximum.
I try to calculate the minimum angle for which the range of the projectile is maximum.
Both these sentences seem fine, to me.
I am trying to be a better person.
I try to be a better person.
Is there any difference between the sentences I used, or should the same tense used for both the group of sentences?
Best Answer
I'll switch the "goal" to something a little more specific...
If you say "I am trying to eat more fresh fruit", the normal implication is you're making that effort right now. It doesn't say much about how long you've been trying, or how successfully. So most likely there's also the implied meaning that you haven't reached your goal of eating sufficient fresh fruit yet.
If you say "I try to eat more fresh fruit", the normal implication is that by habit, for some significant amount of time, you've been eating more fresh fruit than you would have done if you hadn't bothered to make any effort in that direction. So must likely the implied meaning is you do in fact eat enough fresh fruit, but you're aware (and are reminding someone else) that it requires some effort for you to achieve this.
OP's "I try to calculate the minimum angle..." would therefore be an unlikely thing to say, because you wouldn't normally be in the habit of doing this. That's not to say it's an invalid construction - it's perfectly grammatical. But you'd probably only use it in some contrived "narrative" context chronologically and sequentially describing each thing that you do, as you do it.