Understand American Money

Dear ESL Student,

The American money system is logical and very easy to use. It is based on the dollar ($1.00), on which all cash and coins are dependent. There are 100 cents in a dollar. Coins are parts of one dollar, for example: a quarter ($0.25) is 1/4 of a dollar, a dime ($0.10) is 1/10th of a dollar, and so forth. Paper bills are multiples of a dollar: for example, a $5 bill. US Paper Currency The twenty, ten, five, and one are the most frequently used bills.

When speaking about money, $1 is referred to as "a one", "a dollar", "a dollarbill", or "a buck"; $5 is "a five", "five dollars", "a five dollar bill", or "five bucks"; etc. Another way to refer to money is to call it "cash." One popular slang term for money is "cheddar." The five, ten, twenty, fifty and hundred dollar bills have recently been changed in order to provide more security features. Both the new and old versions are currently used. The one dollar bill is not being changed as it is not considered as likely to be counterfeited. Also in use but not as frequently seen are the $2, $50 and $100 bills. The two dollar bill is rare - people often collect, rather than spend, them. $50 and $100 bills are not widely used and many places may not accept them for small purchases. You probably won't ever see any larger-value denominations such as $1,000, $500, $5,000, and $10,000. People not familiar with these bills should probably not accept them, because counterfeit, or fake, currency does happen, especially in the higher and more unfamiliar denominations. Store employees may not like the use of very large bills to pay for very small items. For example, try not to use a $50 to pay for a 25