English Grammar

And

And is used to join two or more grammatically similar expressions.

• bread and butter
  
• black and white
• knife and fork

When two clauses are joined by and, there are many possible relationships between them – time, cause and effect, contrast, condition etc.

• Peter took out his pen and began to make notes. (time)
• Do that again and I will hit you. (condition: = If you do that again …)
• She won the prize and astonished them all. (cause and effect)

Adjectives before a noun

We do not usually use and between adjectives used before a noun.

• She has lovely long fingers. (NOT She has lovely and long fingers.)

However, and is used when the adjectives refer to different parts of the same thing.

• green and white socks

And after try, be sure etc.

We often use try and/be sure and … instead of try to/be sure to… This is informal.

• I try and visit her often. (= I try to visit…)
  
• Be sure and ask him about his new projects. (= Be sure to ask him about …)
  

Note that we only use this structure with the simple base forms try/be sure. It is not possible with tries, tried, trying or am/is/are/was/were sure.

Compare

• Try and eat something.
• I tried to eat something. (NOT I tried and ate something.)

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