use the simple present tense to describe an imaginary situation

[diamondcutter]

Hi friends. Please read this.

"Facing the music" means to accept and deal with the punishment of an action.

Americans often use the word "face" in this way. For example, "I can't face another night of camping! It's cold and rainy." Or "In life, you must face your fears." Face used in this way is very common.

But now, let's go back to facing the music. Imagine a friend asks you to take care of her beautiful red sports car. She gives you the keys and says, "Thanks so much for watching my car while I'm away. But please, do not drive it. It is an extremely fast car." But you do not listen. You want to show off to some friends. So, you drive it around town one night. As bad luck would have it, you lose control of the car and drive it into a stop sign. Bang!

(from a test paper)

In the third paragraph, the author uses the simple present tense to describe an imaginary situation. I wonder if the tense could be used in this way. If so, is the usage idiomatic?

Many thanks in advance.

 

[emsr2d2]

Yes, the present simple is frequently used when asking the reader to imagine a situation.

Imagine this: You are in a car on a deserted road in the middle of the night. Your engine fails. You are stuck. You get out of the car to walk to the nearest phone box but you hear weird rustling and scratching noises all around you. You are sure you're not alone. What do you do?

 

[Raymott]

Yes, the author has used it this way, so it's obviously possible. No, I wouldn't call it idiomatic. The author has chosen one possible tense in which to present the situation. Hypothetical scenarios like this are often expressed in this tense.

(I would have begun the quotation at "Imagine ...", since facing the music, somewhat surprisingly, isn't part of your question.)

 

[diamondcutter]

The author has chosen one possible tense in which to present the situation.

I wonder what other tenses could be used instead of the simple present in that context. The simple past?

 

[emsr2d2]

Yes, the past simple works.

Imagine that you were in a car on a deserted road in the middle of the night. Your engine failed. You were stuck. You got out of the car to walk to the nearest phone box but you heard weird rustling and scratching noises all around you. You were sure you weren't alone. What would you do?

Note that "What did you do?" doesn't work there because that suggests it really happened, so it wouldn't be hypothetical anymore.

It's also possible to say things like "Imagine that you have/had been living abroad for six months ..." and "Imagine that you're going to a party next weekend ...".

 

[Raymott]

Also, past perfect, arguably (Not all verbs are in the past perfect tense):
Imagine that you had been in a car on a deserted road in the middle of the night. Your engine had failed. You were stuck. You'd got out of the car to walk to the nearest phone box but you'd heard weird rustling and scratching noises all around you. You were sure you weren't alone. What would you have done?


Fortune Teller (future):
You will be in a car on a deserted road in the middle of the night. Your engine will have failed. You will be stuck. You will get out of the car to walk to the nearest phone box but you will hear weird rustling and scratching noises all around you. You will be sure you aren't alone. What will you do?