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I want to say:

It is attempting to drink sea water when you feel extremely thirsty, but doing it will only kill you.

Here by saying attempting to I would like to emphasize the feeling that "can not refuse to try"... But I am not sure by using attempting is the right word or right way.

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  • Using attempting in this way makes it seem you are reffering to another organism (it). Better is using something alike to what you said and taking out "is": It seems alright to drink sea water when you are extremely thirsty, but doing it will only kill you.
    – 智障的人
    Commented Aug 17, 2015 at 14:28
  • @viktorahlström I would like to emphasize the feeling that "can not refuse to try".
    – JumpJump
    Commented Aug 17, 2015 at 14:33
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    @Denoising, do you mean "tempting"?
    – shin
    Commented Aug 17, 2015 at 15:44
  • @shin...yea you are absolutely right....
    – JumpJump
    Commented Aug 17, 2015 at 15:45

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It does not express what you want to say, I'm afraid. I think you are looking to say that drinking sea water might seem appropriate or might seem acceptable (or as @viktorahlström suggests, seems alright).

The second clause doesn't sound right. Replace it with so, to end up with

Drinking sea water might seem acceptable when you feel extremely thirsty, but doing so will only kill you.

(we'll leave out the accuracy of the entire statement as off-topic).

Based on the edit, you can emphasize what you want to say by

Drinking sea water can be impossible to resist when you feel ...

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  • Thanks for your answer! Sorry my first post is not clear. I just edit it. Please have a look.
    – JumpJump
    Commented Aug 17, 2015 at 14:36
  • What about "It may be seemed fine to drink sea water when you are extremely thirsty, but that would kill you ". I mean use would rather will. We use would to indicate certain consequences of an action, consider: "It would explode if you keep heating it" why, you all, have used will rather would ?
    – Cardinal
    Commented Aug 17, 2015 at 15:13
  • Thank you so much for your answer @Victor. I just realize I confused the word "attempting" and "tempting"... But your answer is really good. I accept it!
    – JumpJump
    Commented Aug 17, 2015 at 15:46
  • Ah... It didn't occur to me to reduce attempting to tempting. You're right, "It is tempting ..." makes more sense.
    – Victor Bazarov
    Commented Aug 17, 2015 at 15:50

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