Young Writers Society

I always thought the term was "imaginate". I'm not sure--I mean, I heard "imagine", too, of course, but "imaginate" sounds--uh--like the right word? Well anyways, it's not *technically* a word, but people use it. Is "imaginate" improper grammar?

I have two answers for you.

The first is that yes, using 'imaginate' would be considered 'improper.' Not improper grammar, necessarily, because it has nothing to do with grammar. But the word isn't in the dictionary, so I'm sure your English teacher will get his or her knickers in a knot if you use the word. As will any other stickler. And so using it in formal contexts is ill-advised.

But sticklers and English teachers and, indeed, writers, tend to follow something called linguistic perscription. They think that because they are "educated" in the "written word" that they know how language is and isn't and how it ought to remain.

But here's the deal. Languages change. They change constantly and continuously, every minute of every day. The perceptivists try to prevent this change, in constant fear of language degradation. They're fighting a losing battle, though, and since this language change is never "good" change or "bad" change--it's always neutral--their elitist attitudes with language are really just attempts to hold power over other speakers.

Some facts:

1) Every native or fluent speaker of a language is an expert on that language.
2) As discusses, language change is inevitable.
3) Languages live from speaking.
4) Languages are changed by the speakers.

English is your language. It belongs to you as much as it belongs to me or anyone else who speaks it. It's up to you to add new words and help it change to fit a new world.

So use 'imaginated'. Beware that there may be social consequences for using it, but it's a word. It's a word as soon as you made it a word, and as soon as other people understood it's meaning.

Just to add onto Rach's point:

Because "imagined" is in a dictionary an "imaginated" is not, the social ramifications can be pretty big depending on where you use it. You'd have to be mindful of that, especially if trying to submit to editors who are looking for every single spelling "mistake" that may or may not be stylistic, but they disliked it so they're going to reject the story or ask for a mass find and replace search. Editors like to believe they are the true gatekeepers of language, because they often determine what is a mistake or not. (For example, editors of the NY Times banned the use of the word "Tweet" outside of technology contexts to avoid confusion with their readers, simply because it wasn't in the dictionary. They completely ignored the social acceptance because they felt like the word wasn't accepted enough to print.)