I made a clumsy but well-meeting attempt to comfort u

主语 I
谓语 made
宾语 a clumsy but well-meeting attempt to comfort u

就是正常的英语语序。

宾语 {a clumsy but well-meeting {attempt to comfort u}}
这里
定语 clumsy but well-meeting
（原来句子的宾语）attempt
补语 to comfort u

所以to comfort u依赖attempt，应该在attempt后，不可能在句子的前面。

clumsy but well-meeting 和attempt有一个共同的冠词a。像a bad boy一样。所以a表示词组（形容词+名次）的开头。