'a tentative attempt' is correct and usable in written English.
You might use it when you want to express a cautious effort to do something. For example: "She made a tentative attempt to speak up, but still felt too intimidated."
However it is understood that representatives of the two companies have met in a tentative attempt to broker a peace deal between the two sides.
SEE TENSIONS RISE A tentative attempt to set up dialogue between the Kremlin and the organizers of street protests foundered, leaving little time for the groups to ease tensions before large demonstrations planned for Feb. 4 and March 11.
MOSCOW — A tentative attempt to set up a dialogue between the Kremlin and the organizers of street protests foundered on Monday, leaving little time for the groups to de-escalate tensions before large demonstrations planned for Feb. 4 and March 11.
A tentative attempt to elucidate the surface solution structure has been espoused.
The present project makes a tentative attempt in the development of reading scales with a synthesis of literature on cognitive abilities and reading theories.
The Simultaneous Ignition hypothesis we discussed represents a tentative attempt to explain our data.
A first tentative attempt to draw her into a conversation was met with a sigh and an exasperated reply.
It's easy to see the Umm Rawaba raid as an initial, tentative attempt to turn isolated pockets of resistance against Khartoum into a broader, more unified conflict.
Over decades, science in both fields has developed independently – except for a few tentative attempts.
A tentative first attempt is described to quantify the bounds for all the modes, in terms of the two dimensionless groups.
Ukrainian authorities closed in on protesters in Kiev and raided the offices of a leading opposition party on Monday, in their first tentative attempt to exert control over the city centre that has been occupied by anti-government demonstrators for a week.
