"hook attention" is a correct and usable phrase in written English.
You can use it when you want to draw someone's attention to a certain point in an argument or discussion. For example, "My main point is that we need to take immediate action—let me hook your attention by explaining the urgency of the situation."
Perhaps there's something in its unfashionable melancholy that didn't hook the attention of Academy award voters.
Our job as journalists is to balance the two, so that our coverage of war, disaster and violence is neither an over-sanitised shield protecting viewers from horrible realities, nor a lurid attempt to hook their attention with gratuitous images.
Their ability to hook your attention while some alternative mind state morphs before your eyes make them out to be bite-sized mantras suited for the internet age.
The beginning is where you set things up -- the place where you hook the attention of your audience, the place where you set the scene and introduce your hero -- hopefully a likable one.
That would be off-putting, and you want to hook his attention first before you really get to know who he is and what he's about.
Despite the show's polished performances and gently barbed repartee, it never fully hooks your attention.
However, they stealthily added elements like great performances (notably John Hannah and Lucy Lawless as the Roman gladiator owners) and a plot that hooked the attention and refused to let go until a stunningly emotive and brutal climax.
For companies interested in hooking employee attention at a time when there are so many distractions, #GivingTuesday is truly a gift, a powerful tool that can elevate our perspective of the holiday season and make giving back an exciting experience that is as social and expected as the rest of our fun winter calendars.
This experience has hooked my attention regarding the possibility of increasing my "lovability" quotient -- the ability to love and be loved.
