This was because a strained and unnecessary attempt was made to have the parts add up.

This is not another marketing gimmick, nor a strained attempt to make classical music hip.

"When I'm off-duty, my personality changes," said Gersen, in a strained attempt at facetiousness.

It had been remodeled in a black-silver-green Art Deco style that was nothing like the adjacent restaurant, a strained attempt to be chic.

Duncan said, with a strained attempt at a smile.

"Let's get going," she said when the last person was seated and the strained attempt at chat ended.

Updated settings of operatic staples sometimes seem strained attempts for relevance by stumped directors.

"It leads to odd, strained attempts to revive some sense of community by connecting to the past almost with a religious bent," he said.

In Bristol, he became known more for his strained attempts at humour and unstylish clothes than for his writing.

Reading pols' strained attempts at steamy scenes is discomfiting.