attempt

«attempt» in Mova's school dictionary: To try to do something, especially something difficult — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 4 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

verb (attempt, attempts, attempted, attempting); noun (an attempt, attempts)

meaning for a pupil

1) To try to do something, especially something difficult. tree →

2) (noun) An act of trying. tree →

3) (noun) A try to do something in a sport or a record (a world record attempt). tree →

4) «An attempt on someone's life»: trying to kill someone. tree →

sense in the lessons

In exams, «attempt all questions» means try every question. In sport and maths, number of attempts versus successes (scored 6 goals in 10 attempts). In stories, characters attempt brave things. Phrases: «make an attempt», «at the first attempt», «attempt to», «in an attempt to».

examples

• Attempt all the questions on the paper. tree →
• She passed her swimming test at the first attempt. tree →
• He scored 7 goals from 10 attempts. tree →
• The climbers attempted to reach the top. tree →
• In an attempt to win, she ran faster. tree →
• My first attempt at a cake was a disaster! tree →
• They made a world record attempt. tree →
• Do not attempt too much at once. tree →

note

Formal for «try». «Attempt to do» or «attempt + noun». In maths: success rate = successes ÷ attempts (7 out of 10 attempts = 70%); failed attempts = attempts − successes.

In the corpora

• That is a good phonics attempt, not a silly one.
• "Trying for a baby" means attempting to get pregnant.
• Kublai Khan's fleets twice tried to invade Japan, in 1274 and 1281, and both attempts failed, partly because of storms.
• Some philosophers say tricky true words are better than a lie; others say any attempt to mislead is the same wrong.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «attempt» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.