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I'm familiar with ようとする to mean "try to" or "about to", but how about this:

> 新聞から顔を上げようともしない。

Obviously that's a negation of ようとする with an added も. I'm guessing も adds a
hint of "even" to the phrase. Does the phrase still retain the 'try' meaning?

> He doesn't/didn't even try to look up from his newspaper.

Adding 'try' seems a bit strange since looking up from a newspaper is not a
difficult or demanding activity.

Or is it maybe a volitional thing e.g.

> He wasn't even prepared to look up from his newspaper.

Or can it be both, depending on context, or something else altogether?
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2016-03-01T20:36:21.613
32604
2016-03-01T21:35:03.510
2016-03-01T21:35:03.510
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question
grammar particle-も volitional-form
Meaning of ようともしない
The auxiliary verb う/よう denotes the subject's _will_ in a broad sense, and you
don't have to use "try" in a case like this. I think "He _won't/wouldn't_ even
look up from his newspaper" is enough.

You can see other example sentences in these dictionaries:

  * [ALC](http://eow.alc.co.jp/search?q=%E3%82%88%E3%81%86%E3%81%A8%E3%82%82%E3%81%97%E3%81%AA%E3%81%84&ref=sa)
  * [Weblio](http://ejje.weblio.jp/sentence/content/%22%E3%82%88%E3%81%86%E3%81%A8%E3%82%82%E3%81%97%E3%81%AA%E3%81%84%22)
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-01T21:18:53.443
32605
2016-03-01T21:18:53.443
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answer