October 2019

See also the blogs for January and February 2013 for a similar short form revision.

If you were writing a note to yourself in longhand, it is unlikely you would write “and” in full but instead use a scribbled plus sign, and certainly use numerals instead of the full words. You would be using the accepted short forms for longhand, and using anything else would be unthinkable and a waste of time*. Considering the quantity of words in the English language, those represented by the short forms of our shorthand are relatively few in number, but they do comprise* a large percentage of spoken matter. Although lists vary slightly, of the hundred most common words, 50 are short forms, and of the first 20, 19 are short forms. It would be quite difficult to compose a sentence that did not contain one.

* "comprise" Not to be confused with "consists of" (as in the next paragraph) which has the preposition after it, but has the same meaning

A short form consists of a single consonant stroke or a single vowel sign. If there is* more than* one stroke, then that is called a contraction, although some books do present them all together*. As the outlines generally represent only one of the sounds of the word, they are faster to write than full outlines, but do need a little more effort to learn thoroughly. Because of their frequency, your ability to write them instantly is a big factor in your progress, and you don’t want to be hesitating over such a large proportion of the outlines you need to write. Fortunately as they occur so frequently, they get practised much more* but it is always beneficial to revise them.

* "all together" This means "in a group". The single word "altogether" means "wholly, completely"

Short forms are easiest to remember when there is only one of a particular shape, such as “have, put, been, from, how, why” but where they come in pairs or threes, they need some extra attention, so that they can be written rapidly in their correct position. The examples below present these sets in easy sentences, with no difficult vocabulary, to enable you to improve and revise. In the following paragraphs the short forms follow the first vowel of the word. The short forms being practised are in capitals.

* "promoted" Insert the second vowel in this, and in "permitted" to differentiate

* "stay" Insert the vowel in "stay, set, sit" as they are similar in outline and meaning

* "Can you please ..." No question mark, as this is a request rather than a question

He did a good job of CHAIRING the meeting and everyone was CHEERING the company’s success.

* "chaired" Not following its vowel in the past tense, to keep it different from "cheered"

* "according to" The short form is only used to make an omission phrase if there are further words in the phrase, as in the line above, similarly "according (to) me" "according (to) them" etc.

" ... could you please ... " No question mark, as this is a request rather than a question

See also the blogs for January and February 2013 for a similar short form revision.

This article continues practising sets of short forms that are the same shape but which have different positions. Any that you are regularly hesitating over need extra practice, filling a whole page with the same sentence, and making up additional sentences containing them. Keep the drill notepad and pencil handy, so that you can fill in the lines regularly throughout the day whenever there is a spare minute. The first paragraph below has short forms that follow the second vowel. The rest of them are a mixture but generally one of them follows its first vowel sound.

This man is a true GENTLEMAN, but I cannot say that those men are GENTLEMEN at all.

He spoke of the IMPORTANCE of regular practice, in order to* IMPROVE their skills.

The teacher said that it is of the utmost IMPORTANCE to make some IMPROVEMENT this term.

I wrote* down all the PARTICULARS so that I did not miss these exciting job OPPORTUNITIES.

* "had not" Separate outlines are quicker than the phrased version (D with N Hook, halved) which needs the two dots adding, to differentiate it from "do not"

Please GO to the office and GIVE this letter to the accounts department manager.

* "lady" Insert the vowels in this, and in "lad" "laddie", to prevent misreading

* "we wish" The Way stroke is written more shallowly, so that the Ish stroke goes through the line for "wish"

A week ago we went to an Apple Day Celebration held in the orchard of Fulham Palace, an historic house and gardens alongside the river Thames to the west of the city, just opposite Putney Bridge. It is the archetypal fruit and vegetable garden, surrounded by a high brick wall, with about a quarter* of it given to growing vegetables, and a small part of that divided off with hedges for an ornamental flower garden, with low box hedging inside and a large long south-facing greenhouse constructed against the wall. The remainder is set out* as a grassed orchard with arches over long straight paths, and in one corner are several bee hives.

The first stall we saw had a long row of crates of apples and pears of unusual varieties, with identification sheets and descriptions*. Other stalls had all sorts of drinks made from the fruits, and lots* of craft and food tables, wildlife and bee-keeping information, and some games. Traditional music was provided by a band under a marquee, which fitted the scene perfectly. After walking round several times, we wandered into the veg and flower gardens. The plants were at the end of their summer production, tall sunflowers* just fading, and autumn herbaceous plants starting to lean, despite still being full of flowers, doing their best to keep summer going. We knew that if we came back in a month’s time, these beds would be cleared, tidied and put in order before the winter, ready for next year’s displays and produce.

* "descriptions" The contraction is only used for the singular. If it were used for the plural, it would look too much like "discourse"

* "lots" "masses" Insert the first vowel, as these are similar in shape and meaning

Despite a misty start to the day, the sun* had come out, although it was regularly disappearing behind some white cumulus clouds, and the day was mild although somewhat breezy. We knew the weather forecast had heavy showers in store so we kept our eyes on the sky. We walked back to the river and took a bus to Chelsea, where we found the river once again*, and then we made our way to Battersea Park. To the west the sky was now very dark and we could* see the rain plumes falling in the distance. We wondered whether it was coming our way or just passing by. As we got to the park, the wind increased greatly, and it began to rain. As the storm blew over us, we sheltered behind the generously large and wide trunk of one of the old plane trees. Autumn leaves were scudding across the grass. As it was mid-afternoon, we decided that now would be a good time to make for home, to avoid* being chased by the next stormy* episode.

* "avoid" "evade" Always insert the second vowel, especially when out of position in a phrase, as here

Once home, my first task was to go down the garden, after all the strong winds, to see what apples might have fallen. I have planted as many small apple trees as I can, and, unlike the big working orchard, I have several benches around, where I can sit and admire them, with blossom in the spring, maintenance-free greenery in summer, and at the end of the year, red, yellow and green dots of the fruit hanging like autumnal Christmas decorations. The pears especially look like Christmas light bulbs, being the same shape and a dull yellow, which on a gloomy day stand out in contrast to the dark green background. The last of the pears are now sitting* on the kitchen worktop, along with a selection of apples picked in advance of falling. To me, winter officially starts when I have taken the last apple from the tree, and there are no longer any red dots to be seen. (592 words)

* "sitting" Always vocalise "sit, seat, set" and derivatives, as they are similar in shape and meaning

Whenever I am listening to a talk on the Ipod*, I always keep a notepad handy, as I often hear some phrase or comment that immediately strikes me as being relevant to shorthand. The phrase I heard the other day was “chickening out”. The example that came to my mind was the situation in a shorthand dictation where the mind decides it has had enough of this exhausting fast writing and it threatens to chicken out. The shorthand effort will only be derailed if one listens to that and obeys. We have on our hands an internal battle against the leisurely frame of mind* that has served us very well*, up until now. The determination to ignore the qualms is primarily what is learned from taking dictations, once you have identified what is going on. The resolve to ignore the mental intrusions must also be instant, like the outlines, just as you would if an unhelpful person were at your side, whispering words of discouragement to make you stop writing.

* "Ipod" Insert the vowel in this and in "Ipad" to differentiate

* Omission phrases "frame (of) mind" "very (w)ell"

Dictations also make it crystal clear that an outline does not count as known until it can be recalled instantly upon hearing the word, which is a million miles away from reading the book and thinking how to write it, and having the luxury of a second or two to consider the* options and come up with the right one. You have to be your own Instant Response Unit. The other benefit is that it shows up which outlines you do not know, and those must be* looked up and practised until they earn their place on your “instant” list.

* Omission phrases "to (con)sider the" "mus(t) be"

I am reminded of the chickens I saw in the educational* zoo part of a park. They were friendly, interested and not at all afraid of the visitors. They were clucking contentedly, as well they might in their safe all-enclosed mesh pen with regular food and water, a reasonable space strewn with hay where they can scratch around all day, and a luxurious hen house apartment where they can retire from public life for a nap or extra warmth. However, if there were* a big commotion*, a noisy threat or some other danger that they did not* like, I am sure they would be chickening out very quickly. A chicken does not really have any equipment for self-defence or self-preservation other than fleeing. If caught it would use its beak and claws, but that is not enough to enable it to fight anything larger than itself. The chickens are not worried about what anyone thinks of their evasive action to avoid danger. They are entitled to chicken out, and those that do are the ones that stay alive to peck and scratch another day.

* "educational" Normally the diphthong sign would be written outside a Shun Hook, but here there is nowhere else it can be placed

* Omission phrase "there (w)ere"

* "commotion" Not using the Con Dot

* "did not" Write separately, so it can remain in position - compare "do not" which is above the line and "didn't" which would have the vowel written in

Not long ago I was watching a wood pigeon eating some crumbs and a nervous young one was standing by, not sure if those bits were edible. At the slightest sound, or even the sudden movement of the adult bird, the young one’s wings flipped upwards. I have not seen very small birds do that, they just take off, and maybe come back a little later, but with a pigeon it is a bigger commitment to fly off, taking up energy and possibly losing that bit of food. It seems that the wings are directly wired to the eyes and ears, and just flap at the slightest hint of danger. It is like us blinking or cringing if we feel something is coming at our face, raindrops, snow or something unidentified, it happens automatically.

The hard-wired pigeon wing reaction is the ultimate aim of shorthand learning, an instant response to the words heard, just like we all do when writing down a phone number that someone is telling us. The ease of writing numbers and longhand words is proof that otherwise meaningless marks can be learned and attached to certain words*, and become so automatic that it is impossible to look at them and think of anything other than what they represent. The only difference with shorthand being undertaken for job purposes is that this learning has to be done more deliberately and more efficiently* than a pre-schooler learning to write. The conclusion is, leave the chickens to continue with their untroubled and relaxed chicken scratch marks in the dust, and pursue the skill of making, and reading back, your own marks on the surface, accurately, reliably, rapidly and instantly. (734 words)

* "efficiently" The short form includes the "-ly", but here it needs writing in for clarity