pretending

«pretending» in Mova's school dictionary: true when it is not, often in a game: pretending to be a… — 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 (present participle of pretend: pretend, pretends, pretended, pretending); noun (pretending, uncountable)

meaning for a pupil

1) Pretending means acting as if something is true when it is not, often in a game: pretending to be a dragon. tree →

2) Pretending can also mean trying to trick people by acting falsely: pretending to be ill. tree →

sense in the lessons

In play and stories, pretending is imagination: pretend play, make-believe, role play in drama lessons. In safety lessons, some people online pretend to be someone else (for example, a child), so never share personal details. In feelings lessons: pretending to be fine when you are not; it is OK to tell a trusted adult. Phrases: pretending to, pretending that, stop pretending.

examples

• We are pretending to be pirates. tree →
• He was pretending to be asleep. tree →
• She is pretending that the box is a car. tree →
• Stop pretending you did not see me! tree →
• The cat is pretending not to care. tree →
• People online may be pretending to be kids. tree →
• I was pretending to be brave, but I was scared. tree →
• Pretending games help you use your imagination. tree →
• “He-he-he!” exclaimed Iktomi, pretending disappointment that his friend had fallen. tree →

note

After pretend: «pretending to be», «pretending that…». False friend: in some languages a similar word means «to claim» or «to aim for», but in English pretend means to act as if. Pretending in a game is fine; pretending to trick or hurt someone is lying.

In the corpora

• When a bot pretends to be a pirate or a footballer, it is still pretending; quotes it invents were never really said.
• That is not a disaster; pretending is.
• A message pretending to be a bank is a scam that can make real people lose money, so you refuse to write one.
• For an hour or two they stumble on, pretending every tree is an old friend, falling into holes, soaked and bruised.
• Lonely children are sometimes targeted online by adults pretending to be friends.

Trees and pragmatics

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