Hi, there

Is the following usage of “Imagine” common in English? If not, what would you say?

“If Dad is mad now, just imagine when he finds out you put a ding in his car!”
“If the economy was bad before, just imagine what it will be like after the pandemic”
“If things were tough before, imagine now!”

Thank you

Question

Hi, there

Is the following usage of “Imagine” common in English? If not, what would you say?

“If Dad is mad now, just imagine when he finds out you put a ding in his car!”
“If the economy was bad before, just imagine what it will be like after the pandemic”
“If things were tough before, imagine now!”

Thank you

Answer

Yep, and your first two sentence make perfect sense. The third sentence “imagine now” doesn’t really read well. As you don’t have to imagine in the present. You could use imagine in these contexts with either referring to the future, past or an alternative outcome. Hope that helps 😊😊