Words at Work: The Marketplace 1

Whether you’re at the supermarket or the mall, knowing certain words can help you shop wisely.

Read the following story. Think about the meaning of the boldface words. Then circle the correct word choice in each sentence.

Shopping Day

Saturday morning, Fritzie and Frank went to the supermarket. They always go early, when the store is less crowded. Frank likes to be one of the first customers of the day.

“Let’s get this soap,” Fritzie said as she and Frank pushed a cart through the aisles. She pointed to a sign that announced a 20 percent discount.

Frank pulled a coupon from his pocket. “This will give us 50 cents off!”

At the checkout counter, the clerk scanned the bar code on each item in Frank and Fritzie’s basket. When she rang up the sale, she exclaimed, “You got a real bargain today!”

1. Customers are people who are ( parking their cars / buying things ).

2.A discount is an amount ( taken off / added to ) a price.

3.A coupon is a ticket or piece of paper that ( gives the holder special rights / can be used as identification ).

4.A clerk will ( sell / buy ) things in the store.

5.The bar code on each item is a set of printed lines. When electronically read, these lines give ( a list of ingredients / the price ).

6.When the clerk said the soap was a bargain, she meant it was ( extremely high in quality / at a lower-than-usual price ).