She noticed that the others at her table were also merely pretending to eat.

Alicia concludes that he was merely pretending to love her as part of his job.

She had never figured out, in Father's case, whether he really enjoyed playing, or merely pretended to enjoy it for diplomatic purposes.

As an independent saleswoman, she found that customers merely pretended to listen to her.

He wasn't indifferent to their deaths, he was merely pretending to be.

Of course Phelps said she was merely pretending to be ill; was never looking so well & fine.

If you weren't merely pretending to like him, until a few months ago.

On one view, fictional names merely pretend to express propositions.

His guns were empty; he would have no chance to battle uniformed men who merely pretended to uphold the law.

In most cases, the literature is memorized and competitors are merely pretending to read the material.