The inert syntactic form gave him no clue, but still he felt his throat thrum with pointless attempts at verbal articulation.

Didn't they realize he had more important things to do than let them pass by in their pointless attempts to preserve their own insignificant existences?

It is a much pointless attempt to create a machine that mimics the behavior and intelligent level of a human being.

In a pointless attempt to calm her down, I deliberately favored my right hand while we talked.

I tapped my foot on the floor in a pointless attempt to alleviate the mounting tension.

She could abuse her mind no longer with pointless attempts to remember.

Uh-oh, Ezri thought, and she immediately started walking forward in a pointless attempt to cover up her eavesdropping.

I was trying not to dwell on what had happened since Val's murder, but it was a pointless attempt.

In Britain, a majority of voters no longer believe in man-made climate change and they will not pay for futile and pointless attempts at mitigation.

The second quatrain continues this theme on mankind's pointless attempts.