What do Edward Cullen, Wolverine, Madea, and Sheldon Cooper have in common? Each is the product of the imagination of a writer or storyteller. And regardless of whether they were conceptualized as part of a novel, comic book, or screenplay, each character and his or her story was expressed primarily through language.

Imagining is probably the most complex functional competency. It is the ability to think, play, and be creative in communication. Children imagine, for example, by pretending to be a superhero. Adults imagine too. The way a song is worded, the way a play is scripted, and the way special effects coordinate with the message delivered in a film—these all stem from imagination. On the job, imagining is manifested by the ability to use language to convey to your coworkers the vision for a project (such as an architect would use words to explain blueprints and models). In a debate, imagining enables you to think ahead of your opponent, to put words to each side of an argument, and to use language in logical and convincing ways.