Essay · Level 1 · 128 words

When a Date Travels

Original passage © Studio AM, written for Fluency.

I once wrote 4/5 on a card for a planning meeting. To me, it meant April 5. A teammate read it as May 4. Neither of us had made a careless mistake. We had simply learned different orders for writing dates.

Since then, I write the month as a word when a date will travel. April 5 takes only a little more space. It also removes a quiet puzzle before the card reaches another desk.

This habit has changed how I think about clear writing. A message does not begin with what the sender understands. It begins with what sender and reader can recognize together. Extra letters can sometimes save an extra question. Small care matters most when words must work far from the person who wrote them.

Comprehension questions

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4 questions
1. What is the main idea of the essay?

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D. Writing the month as a word can prevent date confusion when a message travels between people who use different orders.
The 4/5 mix-up leads the author to write the month as a word so people using different date orders share the same meaning.

2. Why does the author say neither person made a careless mistake?

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A. Each person had learned a different order for writing numeric dates.
The first paragraph explains that the two readings came from different learned date orders, not from a failure to pay attention.

3. What does “puzzle” mean in the second paragraph?

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B. an uncertainty about which date the sender intended
Writing April removes the need to decide whether 4/5 names April 5 or May 4, so puzzle means that uncertainty.

4. What date did the teammate think 4/5 meant?

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C. May 4
The opening contrast states that the author meant April 5 while the teammate read the same numbers as May 4.

Source: Written for Fluency. Original passage © Studio AM, written for Fluency.