The phrase "attempt to expound" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used when you want to describe the effort to explain or clarify a concept or idea in detail.
Example: "In his lecture, the professor made an attempt to expound on the complexities of quantum mechanics."
Alternatives: "try to explain" or "endeavor to clarify".
In their hard-hitting polemical writings they attempted to expound the fundamental theological, historical, and legal truths of their cause.
But attempts "to expound a poet's probable meanings" are just the beginning for Bromwich; getting to know a poet's work, he writes, is an "experience like getting to know a person".
The paper attempts to expound and illustrate the design-based approach to cognitive science and philosophy, to demonstrate the potential effectiveness of the approach in generating interpretative possibilities, and to provide first steps towards an information processing account of "perturbant," emotional episodes.
If you're a member or a fan of that subset, chances are the president's stammer doesn't bother you; in fact, you might even love him for it (he sounds just like your grad school roommate, especially when he drank too much Scotch and attempted to expound on the Hegelian dialectic!).
At first he attempted, unconvincingly, to expound these ideas as new, alternative laws of physics (Beiträge zur Optik [1791 92; Optical Essays]).
WASHINGTON, April 30 —President Nixon made no attempt in his speech tonight to expound a legal justifica tion for his move into Cam bodia, other than to refer to his duties as Commander in Chief under the Constitution and the need to protect the lives of American soldiers.
He used the witness stand as a venue to expound at great length on his own role in the Reich, attempting to present himself as a peacemaker and diplomat before the outbreak of the war.
And there were others - too many to expound.
But standups can't dramatise, they have to expound.
He leans back to expound on this further.
