pretend

«pretend» in Mova's school dictionary: true when it is not, for fun or to trick someone — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

verb (pretend, pretends, pretended, pretending); adjective (pretend — informal, children's: pretend money)

meaning for a pupil

1) To act as if something is true when it is not, for fun or to trick someone. tree →

2) To play a make-believe game: «Let's pretend we're pirates». tree →

3) Adjective (informal): not real, make-believe: a pretend shop. tree →

sense in the lessons

In play: pretend play (role-play) helps imagination — playing house, shop, superheroes. In truth lessons: pretending to be ill to miss school is lying; tricky people online may pretend to be children. In stories: characters pretend to fool someone (the wolf pretended to be Grandma). Phrases: pretend to be, pretend that, let's pretend, pretend play, pretend not to notice.

examples

• Let's pretend we're astronauts. tree →
• The wolf pretended to be Grandma. tree →
• He pretended to be asleep. tree →
• We played with pretend money in our shop. tree →
• Don't pretend you didn't see it. tree →
• Someone online might pretend to be a child — be careful. tree →
• She pretended not to hear. tree →
• Possums pretend to be dead when they're scared. tree →
• Then she pretended to be asleep again. tree →

note

Regular verb: pretended. «Pretend to do» or «pretend that…». Pretending in a game is fun; pretending to fool someone in a harmful way is lying. A false friend in some languages: «pretend» in English does not mean «claim a right» or «expect».

In the corpora

• The film is pretend, but the feelings it makes are real, and they can stay with you after the screen goes dark.
• For stories and pretend games that randomness is fun.
• When a bot pretends to be a pirate or a footballer, it is still pretending; quotes it invents were never really said.
• Online, anyone can pretend to be anyone, and now a bot can pretend too.
• People and bots online may pretend to be someone else; asking for photos is a big warning sign.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «pretend» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.