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Suppose, Pretend, Imagine

Advanced

After this lesson, you will be able to talk about situations that are not true in real life, but that you think of as true.

Exercise 1

Sentence Practice

My daughters like to pretend to be princesses.
Suppose you had lots of money; what would you do with it?
Imagine how life would be without the internet.

Grammar Focus

Pretend

'Pretend' means to behave as though something is true, while knowing it is not. The form is: pretend + [infinitive verb] or [simple sentence].

A simple sentence can be SV, SVC, or SVO. (S = Subject, V = Verb, O = Object, C = Complement).

My daughters like to pretend to be princesses. (= 'pretend' + infinitive verb 'to be')
I saw a bear, so I pretended to be asleep.
They like to pretend they are princesses. (= 'pretend' + SVC)

Suppose

If you 'pretend' something is true, you know it is false, but act as if it were real. If you 'suppose' something is true, you think of it as true for the purpose of a conversation.

If you want to talk about something that is happening now, use suppose + [simple sentence in present tense]. Otherwise, use the past tense.

Suppose we miss our flight today. How would we get home? ('miss' is in present tense)
Suppose you owned an island. What would you do with it? ('owned' is in past tense)

Imagine

To 'imagine' means to picture something in your mind. Use 'imagine' like this: imagine + [object] + [gerund verb] or imagine if + [object] + [past tense verb].

Imagine if you lived in ancient Greece!
Imagine if we lived in ancient Greece!
Imagine living in ancient Greece! (the object can be omitted if it's 'you' or 'us' )

Exercise 2

Dialogue Practice

Read the dialogues aloud with your tutor.

Teenage Crush

	Sarah I saw Philip the other day, but pretended not to see him. I'm not brave enough to talk to him.
	Liam You need to make a move! Just imagine what could happen!
	Sarah Easier said than done!
	Liam Suppose you asked him out to a movie. What's the worst thing that could happen?
	Sarah He could reject me.
	Liam Let's practice! Pretend I'm Philip. Ask me out to a movie.
	Sarah No. I think he'll just reject me. Let's just pretend I don't like Philip and talk about something else.

Exercise 3

Find the Mistakes

Correct the mistakes in the following sentences.

Example

Suppose you own an island. → "Suppose you owned an island."

Susan pretends being fine when she is not.

Tim pretended not understanding French.

Imagine him to be the president.

Imagine be in outer space.

Exercise 4

Sentence Building

Make sentences using suppose, pretend, or imagine and the following words.

Example

not like bananas → "Suppose you did not like bananas. Would you still eat them?"

travel to Mars
be on Mars
hate your job
get your dream job
have a child
not have any worries
won a competition