attempt at vs attempt to

[themarkac]

Is there a difference. I've seen both used in correct answer choices from various sources.

Thanks!

[RonPurewal]

Is there a difference. I've seen both used in correct answer choices from various sources.

Thanks!

there's a major difference:
attempt at is used only with nouns (or things that are equivalent to nouns): it was his third attempt at the world record.
attempt to, by contrast, is used for infinitives: his attempt to break the world record was thwarted when he was injured.

[SaketN236]

Is "Atttempt for something" always incorrect?

[RonPurewal]

i can't even read that color, against a white background. can you write that in normal text, please?

(there's no reason to write that in colored text, anyway -- there isn't any other text around it, so it's not as though you are "highlighting" anything)

[SaketN236]

i can't even read that color, against a white background. can you write that in normal text, please?

(there's no reason to write that in colored text, anyway -- there isn't any other text around it, so it's not as though you are "highlighting" anything)

Is "attempt for" always incorrect?

[RonPurewal]

if it's followed by the goal/purpose of the "attempt", then, yeah, that's incorrect.

there are other contexts in which you could correctly use "attempt" followed by "for" -- e.g., Many of the competitors had already tried to break the record more than ten times, but today's try was the first attempt for Alyssa.
(note this isn't "attempt for" as any kind of idiom; this is really just "attempt".
"for alyssa" is a different construction, independent of that.)