[MarlonRando]

silhouette is an easy word? Really?

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

For people who do not have to hit their only brain cell with a hammer to try to get it to function, yes.

[Tanniker Smith]

By high school? Yes. They should’ve seen it and heard it by then. (*)

If they are trying to sound it out for the first time — or spell it — then no.

(*) Take Google AI for what it’s worth (not much, admittedly) but it says the word should appear by second grade (age 7-8) in art projects, and 4th-6th grade for vocabulary.

[goodnesswins]

In high school...which this is...it should be easy.

[Steely Tom]

Yeah, to be fair, those words are a bit advanced.

A kid who did a lot of reading would know them by ninth grade or so, when I was growing up.

But there would have been lots of kids who stumbled on them if asked to read them aloud without preparation. Maybe they weren't the kind of kids who would go on to major in engineering or chemistry, but they also wouldn't have been dummies.

[Jane Long]

silhouette is an easy word? Really?

---

Should be.

But, not for many educated in public screwels within the past 15 - 20 years.

Does that include you?

[BradyLS]

I know what a silhouette is. But I think it’s misapplied in the given example. I think the proper word should be ‘suit’ for the sentence to make more sense:

“She wore a suit of clothes that were extraordinary but somewhat gauche.”

…Or maybe a different sentence using the word ‘silhouette’…

”The model’s ensemble of haute couture clothing gave her a striking silhouette as she approached the runway.”

[Third Person]

yes, really

[gloryblaze]

Not super easy, but the point is not that ALL the kids couldn’t read the sentence, but that NOT ONE could.

[Sicvee]

Late 50’s teenagers especially from Philly, would have no trouble because of the hit song by the Rays

[A strike]

That’s a good point, and
that sentence makes no sense either..

[imardmd1]

Well, pronouncing “silhouette” is not very difficult to someone who was high-schooled seventy years ago, but it would never have been used in the sense that his test sentence applies it. simply knowing how to pronounce a word doesn't mean that one knows how to use it in a readable context.

[mewzilla]

Is is for kids who grew up on McGuffey readers.

[MayflowerMadam]

It’s a very easy word.

[HIDEK6]

Yes. My mother used to make hand silhouettes to entertain me.

She told me what they were and how to spell it.

I was 5 at the time.