STUDIES IN SHORTHAND

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1157, 4 May 1894, Page 37

STUDIES IN SHORTHAND

A Series of Home Lessons in Pitman’s Phonography. [Copyright.]

By permission oj Messrs. Isaac Pitman dr 5 Sons.

LESSON VIII. We now come to a highly important and, at first sight, perhaps rather difficult principle of our art—that of halving a consonant to express the past tense of verbs, or the addition of tor d. In order that you may thoroughly and easily master this important principle, we must ask your earnest attention to the following comments, illustrations and exercises. Referring to the remarks on page 31 of the “Teacher, we find that a thin consonant is made one-half its usual size to indicate the addition of l: thus, N X ap, \ apt, X pat. A thick letter when halved expresses the addition of d: as ~ guide, bide. A vowel BEFORE a half-sized consonant is read before both letters ; as .) east, .) eased, 'V. oft, _i_ ached, ~ act. A vowel AFTER a half-sized consonant is read next to the PRIMARY single, double, or treble letter ; thus, i"“ God, f" cot, f~ caught, f 3 coughed, point, J* taint, 'X bread, *l. street. The half-lengths m, n, I, and downward r written thick express the addition of d; thus, moat, -jv mode; y note, si- owned; neat, need; V" old, appeared, J* dared. Ld and rd, like all the other thick letters, are w'ritten downward, but are not used when a vowel interi’enes ; It and rt are most frequently written upwards, and the upward form of the latter letter is used in preference to the downward character, as a much better distinction is thereby obtained in quick writing; thus, Vj" felt, fold, followed, \s port, poured, \/l parade. Such words as lead and read should be written C\ /\ [not C ■>.]. When the circle s follows a half-sized consonant, it must be read after the t or d added to the primary letter; thus, X pat, X pats (not past), X pant , pants, No final vowel can be placed after the t or d added by halving ; thus, *\j? would not be practice, faulty, but prackits, faidil: x are the correct forms. This rule requires the learner’s particular attention. Here you should make yourself an exercise by writing out two or three times all the letters of the phonographic alphabet that may be halved for tor d. This exercise will suggest such words as pat, pet, pit, pot; chit, chat; art, late ; mat, mad ; knit, mid, mud, etc. Wherever possible, form words by inserting a vowel, rather than leave a mere consonantal outline. After this, Exercises 50-52 of the “Teacher ” should be done. The halving principle for the expression of t or d applies equally to hooked and unhooked letters : thus, X pate, X prate, \ plate, paint, X paved In each case the added / or d is read last, that is as the final sound. A consonant with circle j prefixed or affixed, or even with circle .r at both ends (as space), maybe halved: thus, f spot, % spit, V? spite, x> pats , <> pots, spots, X spits, % splints, % supplants, sprites, etc. The three heavy letters, mp, ng, Ir, do not admit of being halved for the addition of t or d, because they would clash, respectively, with half-sized m, n, and l, as seen in pomade, intend, bold. Mp may be hooked finally, as o> impugn, and then be halved for either /ord; as impend, rs impassioned, impound. The rule we have given for the halving of thin consonants to express t and thick ones to express d, only applies when the letter is written by itself. When, however, a word consists of more than one syllable, or is only one syllable, but contains a final hook, or circle added to a final hook, thep either t or d is expressed by halving it ; thus, repeat, repeated, refute, refuted, rabbit or rabid, beautiful, Xif incident, counted, inclined, paint or pained, J tent or tend, cant or canned. A full-sized consonant may either precede or follow a half-sized one when it presents no difficulty in joining : thus I timed, L-v timid, L_ checked, /• raked, erect, L eject, '-J> intense, -rv—. madam,

sometimes: or the halved consonant may occur medially, as military, ■—yf' accurately, etc. In writing the past tense of verbs ending in a hook, the forward motion of the hand in CSs "-4. <^ -v - i is easier for the writer than printed, granted : but \ planted. The past tense of a verb ending in t or d is written thus, \/ part, parted, not \x part, \ j parted. A full-sized and a half-sized consonant should not be joined unless they form an angle at the point of union, or show the junction by a DIFFERENCE OF THICKNESS, as i X chord, ford. For instance, cooked, kicked, licked, must be written in full, thus : s. ; I ( 1 Otherwise it would be doubtful whether such combinations were meant for a single letter, or a full-sized and a half-sized letter, or two full-sized letters. When the foregoing remarks have been well considered and the exercises there enumerated practised until you can write them neatly and correctly, you may then proceed with the next section ol this lesson. We have often seen pupils write words ending in ;//, nd,ft, and vd wrongly, the strokes —" n, 'x_ .A and v, being halved instead of the appropriate final hook being used, and the halving principle applied to the preceding consonant, as has been done in many of the examples already given in this lesson ; thus, faint is X, not ; kind I 3 not v This does not apply when the preceding consonant is the circle s : as, send. In words like dated, entreated, frustrated, prostrated, etc., if it be remembered that a half-length consonant cannot be added to a full-length consonant running in the same direction, and that the syllable l fed may be easily disjoined and written at the side of the fulllength consonant, no difficulty will arise. The pupil should study attentively the following order which is to be uniformly observed in the consonantal elements of all words in which the halving principle is applied : 1. The initial circle or loop is to be read first. 2. Then the stroke letter (with or without initial hook). 3. Next the final hook. 4. Afterwards the tor d added by halving. 5. And lastly, the circle 5, or loop st. The way to master this arrangement is to go through Exercises 53 and 54 of the “Teacher” and reduce each phonographic sign to its consonantal elements. No doubt you will find some difficulty at first in understanding and applying the halving principle and in vocalizing correctly; but a careful attention to the order of the consonants will guide you as to the vowels. It may, however, be of further assistance to you to consider the following rules : Where a single consonant —that is, a consonant which has neither hook, circle, nor loop—is halved for either t or d, the vowels are written and read exactly as though the letter were a full-sized one : thus, \ ap, \ apt, X pat; X pet, pea, \. peat. In other words, there are first, second and third vowel places in half-length, as well as in full-length consonants. Where a half-length consonant precedes or follows a full-length consonant the vowels are reckoned as though both were of full-size •. thus, r§3>§-3 int-ense, ** ' mad-am, midd-le. A half-sized letter with an initial hook is vocalized the same as a full-sized letter with an initial hook : as pray, <X prate, *X play, plate. A half-sized consonant with initial circle or si loop is vocalized the same as a corresponding fullsized consonant : thus \ pot, K. spot, (read thus : 1, initial circle s ; 2, consonant p; 3, the vowel; and 4, the added /) ; '\ stop, A slopped, stopper, /X stoppered. These regulations apply, of course, equally to halved consonants with final hooks, circles, or loop ; thus, pain , 'S paint (added t read last), 'S paints (circle s read last); \ pat, X pats; X> pave, v s paved; 1 drift, V drifts; >=> gifts, amidst (read 1234 5 a...ni...i...d (added) ...st loop), with this difference, namely, in the case of halved consonants with initial hooks the vowel is read after \\xo hook, whereas in the case of halved consonants with final hook the vowel is read before the hook. Sir loop cannot be added to a half-length consonant. f X continued. J