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In my another post ("Have you done a poo?" vs. "Did you poo?") I said

Pretend that I have a 10 year old son.

Is it idiomatic? Does that sound natural? Is it an appropriate beginning for discussion?

WXJ96163
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    Note when an age is used as an adjective it gets hyphenated: "10-year-old son". – Era Mar 06 '20 at 14:10

1 Answers1

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"Pretend" means to behave in a way that makes something contrary to reality seem real. Children "pretend" when they are role-playing, and they act out imaginary situations.

If you are presenting a hypothetical scenario for someone to consider, it would be more idiomatic to say:

Imagine that I have a 10-year-old son

OR

Let's say that I have a 10-year-old son.

Astralbee
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    "Suppose" is another word that works here. I don't think "pretend" is totally incorrect, but these are more appropriate for sure. Native speakers also sometimes omit the "that". – Era Mar 06 '20 at 14:13