Read the excerpt from "Object Lesson, Part 2.""To cut these strips of newspaper to the same size as dollar bills, the thief must have used a real bill as a pattern. If he cut too close, the scissors would shave off a sliver of the bill.”

The passage says the thief cut the newspaper strips “to the same size as dollar bills” and must have used a real bill “as a pattern.” A pattern is a model used to copy a shape or size, so the excerpt implies the thief used a real dollar bill as a model. It does not say the thief kept a sliver or that the strips were smaller.

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