Learn English – Try somebody out or just try them

verbs

Suppose you don't know someone and you are e.g. a manager and are going to hire him; then you talk to one of the other top managers regarding that new personnel; you can probably say:

  • I don't know him and his abilities and working potentials well; so I'm going to try him out to see how he does in a task.

I think the sentence above would be idiomatic. But my question is that whether it is possible to omit the word "out" from the compound verb "try out" or not.

As far as I know we only can "try something" meaning that "wear it". Am I right?

Best Answer

Try has a couple of meanings:

  • to attempt (try + -ing or try + infinitive)

  • to use as a trial or see how it works (try + noun)

  • to undergo a legal trial

Try out generally only has the second meaning above.

In your sentence, especially since you establish context with "I don't know him and his abilities and working potentials well," it's clear you mean the second meaning above, so out can be omitted.

The third meaning of try above will usually not be assumed unless legal proceedings are part of the context or conversation.

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