Reading cases
A case · you decide
Jordan and the ticket receipt
Jordan — a 17-year-old who just bought concert tickets with money from a summer job
The receipt says the tickets are nonrefundable. Jordan reads “non—re—” and his eyes slide to the price.
Long words on receipts and contracts are rarely new words. They are short words with parts stuck on the front and back.
Each part carries meaning: non- means not, re- means back, and -able means can be. The middle part is the word he already knows.
How does Jordan read nonrefundable?
Contracts use the same few dozen parts again and again. Learn the parts once and every new receipt is easier.
A case · you decide
Amara and the driver’s handbook
Amara — a 16-year-old studying for her learner’s permit test
The handbook section on highways uses a word she has heard but never read: interstate.
Every syllable has one vowel sound. Find the vowels and you have found the syllables.
Here there are three vowel sounds: the i, the e, and the a with its silent e at the end.
How does Amara break the word?
The permit test is timed, but reading it is not a race. Breaking words is faster than rereading sentences.
A case · you decide
Nico and the pay stub
Nico — an 18-year-old checking his first paycheck from a warehouse job
One line on the stub reads “Withholding.” Nico has seen the word a hundred times and never said it out loud.
The word is with + hold + ing. The middle part, hold, is closed by consonants — but the vowel before “ld” is long, like in cold and told.
Once he can say it, he can ask about it: withholding is the tax his employer keeps back and sends to the government.
What does Nico do with the line he couldn’t read?
Every document written for adults assumes you can read its long words. That is a skill, and it can be practised.