Learn English – How to say “find a way to do something” better, in English

meaning

For example, I want to do something, but I don't know how to do it even I had tried.

A real example, I'm using an open-source library, and I want to add some of my own functions:

I may want to add a until() and trimLeft(..) and trimRight(…), that I can write it as:

string("/").trimLeft().until(string("/"))

But I don't find a way to do it.

Here I'm using "find a way", but I don't know if it's good. Or "find a solution"? Or "find a method"? Or some other words?

In other case, e.g. I don't know how to open a box, is there any other way(right?) to express "I don't know how to do it"?

There may be a lot of mistakes in this question, I'll be very appreciate if you can point them out.

Best Answer

Yes, it sounds wrong, but the problem isn't with "find a way", it's with "don't". That suggests that not finding a way to do it is a habitual thing. Replace it with "can't". "But I can't find a way to do it." Perfectly idiomatic, and seems to express what you wanted.

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