Took a crack at

Usage examples of tried.

He tried not to smirk at the non-Traders when he passed their lonely fires.

Maybe if I tried treating him as family, he might warm up to me, she thought.

It was when those idiots tried to make her into a prize that she got all on her dignity.

He walked past them, mending a damaged leaf here, making another unpleasant for the insects who tried to gnaw on it.

And he said I would leave only when I signed the marriage contract and put my lip print on it in blood, so a mage could use it against me if I tried to break it.

Instead, he tried to remember if he had ever known Sandry to be in such a towering rage.

The trumpets blared, the hunter dogs of the armies howled, and Briar tried to run.

When she tried to pull herself into the saddle, her strength failed her partway.

As the watchdog mages tried to strike at Chime with their power, Tris released her wind.

He tried to inspect the curls and twists inside the thing, only to find he was swaying on his feet, sleep already blurring his mind.

While he tried to shield his vision, vines and wire finished a globe of a cage.

All along they tried to fight, as Shan did, but their efforts were useless.

He drew his sword and tried to hack at them, only to have the weapon suddenly grow hot in his hand.

Daja summoned more heat to the men who faced her, running her fingers over the living metal on her hand as she tried to hold the line between too hot for comfort and hot enough to do permanent damage.

Some of his power went into me, too, when he tried to kill me and the curse rebounded.