feigned

"You must do your homework before you can watch television."

"The company was shut down after investigators discovered its fraudulent accounting practices. "

"My friend told me there was something in the box, but I didn't know what it was yet. "

"under pretense of friendliness"

"She helped her little brother with his homework under the pretence of enjoying math, when really she just wanted to watch her favorite TV show afterward. "

"We will use a smoke machine to simulate the fog you will actually encounter."

"During the crackdown, many opponents of the regime were arrested."

"The school principal appointed Friday afternoon for the parent-teacher conferences. "

"The sickness kept him from attending school for a week. "

"The store owner discovered a counterfeit bill in the customer's payment. "

"Actually, I had nothing to do with that incident."

"The complicated instructions on the new software difficult me from completing the project on time. "