Quote Originally Posted by grafrich View Post
'Двери уж не пытались закрываться,...'
'Двери даже не попытались закрыться,...'
I had thought that when describing an action that didn't happen, it was usual to use the imperfective. On the basis that, because it didn't happen at all, it was not sucessfully completed?
Is that not the case?
To describe an action that didn't happen you only need не + past tense. Verb aspects are a whole different matter.

Двери уже не пытались закрываться - this gives a notion that the doors did try to close a few times with no success and they eventually "gave up". God, are we talking about doors?
Двери даже не попытались закрыться - this means that they haven't even tried to close. No closing action at all, neither successful nor unsuccessful.