The phrase "a pretense for a" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used when discussing a false appearance or deceptive behavior intended to conceal the true nature of something.
Example: "His kindness was merely a pretense for a hidden agenda that he had not revealed."
Alternatives: "a facade for a" or "a guise for a".
The parishioners at the first church reluctantly accepted the removal, but those at St. Thomas Aquinas felt the diocese was overreacting and using a simple misunderstanding over paperwork as a pretense for removing a priest with whom the bishop disagreed.
Child-hating was not a pretense for Mother, the jokey exasperation of a sentimental woman, who spoke of her children insincerely as rug rats and burdens.
Mr. Young went to federal court for a writ of habeas corpus, arguing that the conditions under which he was held were so punitive, and his treatment so inadequate, that the civil commitment label was a pretense for what was really a second criminal sentence.
"Some employers are using the economy as a pretense for laying off just one person," Ms. Grossman said.
Another talked about being pulled over by an officer who claimed to smell marijuana in the car as a pretense for searching him.
Critics of the law call it an Orwellian scheme that invokes treatment as a pretense for preventive detention and often sweeps in the wrong people.
The best of these promote social integration and community policing, but such efforts can be difficult, particularly if Muslims experience them as a pretense for surveillance or sting operations.
When Saddam Hussein of Iraq invaded Kuwait, for instance, some religious sheiks spread the rumor that Americans had put him up to it to create a pretense for the United States to occupy Saudi Arabia to ensure continued access to oil.
Another sticking point is that Washington, worried that the biosafety rules will be a pretense for trade barriers, wants to make sure that the treaty does not take precedence over World Trade Organization rules.
