dollar

In American currency, a dollar is worth 100 cents.

one dollar

• What can you get for a dollar?
• A head of lettuce is just over a dollar.
• You can get two cucumbers for a dollar.
• A mango costs about a dollar.
• It costs a dollar to park your car on the street for an hour.
• Almost everything you see in the dollar store costs a dollar.
• You can get a large candy bar for a dollar.
• When I was a kid a candy bar cost ten cents. I was able to buy ten candy bars for a dollar.

It’s important to know how to describe the cost of things when you live in or visit the United Sates. When the word "dollar" is used to form an adjective in front of a noun, don’t use an "s" after "dollar."

• She bought a ten-dollar t-shirt at the store.
• I have a twenty-dollar bill in my pocket. (bill = paper money)
• Someone gave Bill a $25 gift certificate.
• A million-dollar winner of the lottery collected his prize.

When the dollar sign ($) is used with numbers, say the word "dollars" after the number.

• That’ll be $35.
• That car is on sale for $12,000.
• Their house cost them $289,000.

Other words that are used in place of the word dollar are buck, single, and one.

• I’ve got ten bucks in my pocket.
• Brenda needs more singles in her cash register.
• Do you have any ones? I need five ones.

The word "dollar" is used in many expressions:

• What do you do to stretch a dollar. (save money)
• Dollar for dollar, this is a good deal.
• Let’s talk dollars and cents. (What’s the cost?)
• He sees dollar signs in this investment. (He thinks he’ll make a lot of money.)
• She knows the value of a dollar. (She’s smart about making and saving money.)
• They had to pay top dollar for their house. (They paid a large amount or the highest amount.)
• You look like a million dollars. (You and your clothes together make you look very nice.)

This is a one-dollar coin.

Click here to learn more words.

March 4, 2014