STUDIES IN SHORTHAND

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1160, 25 May 1894, Page 37

STUDIES IN SHORTHAND

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

fiy terwission of Messrs. Isaac Pit matt cr* Sons.

LESSON XI. In the course of your practice you may occasionally meet with a word that contains more vowels than consonants, as '/' Ohio, V cV loxva ;or with no consonant at all. Paragraph 174 in the “Manual” will show you how to write two or more vowels following each other. Paragraph 175 slates that a vowel at the beginning of a word may he joined to the first consonant ; the same convenience is allowed to some of the grammalogues ; thus, V and if, hmv much, /v——- how many , how wilt, - you may, can , will, must, v ' too many, -j to-day , do, have, etc. The examples of contractions given in paragraph 179, are to be repeatedly written out until you are familiar with them. In paragraph 180 several examines are given of the mode ot expressing the connective phrase “of the ” by contiguity. I'his is one of the easiest and most useful of all the contractions employed in the system. The principle of contiguity is also employed for the expression of the prefix com or con, as explained above, and it is found that this double meaning causes no difficulty in reading. With respect to the wools on pages 64-5, you will have very little difficulty in committing them to memory if you bear in mind that the following methods are adopted in contracting them : —(1) The latter fart of the word is omitted; as ( for (/" Catholic, c for *" 1 character. (2) The middle portion of the word is omitted ; as 'MD for information, <tf for satisfactory. (3) Th first part of the word is omitted ; as, for r' l large, J for % pleasure. (4) By intersections, as V" for • enlarge, Temperance Society. The contraction for the oft-recurring phrase morethan is, like most contractions, exhibited as a model upon which other phrases com|K>unded of than and a preceding word may be formed. 'Than in this case is expressed by hook u ; so likewise it may be in the phrases f' lower than, <s~T smaller than, sooner than, C other than, rather than, etc. This last form also stands, of course, for renter , ranter, rounder, as well as for rather than ; but the context will sufficiently indicate which is meant. Paragraph 184 requires attentive consideration. We are there told that we must for any given word choose that form which is most easily and rapidly written, and is capable of being vocalized. Manifestly the novice cannot decide that choice ; the only way to determine it is by trying as many ways of writing any word that presents difficulty as you can think of—-adhering closely to rules. That outline which you can write most easily and quickly is, l>e assured, the best, and most likely to be the correct one. Consonant, for instance, may be exhibited in two ways, :<b and The latter is more in accordance with the rule, “Forward,” than the former ; and is, therefore, to be preferred. You will insensibly acquire a knowledge of the best forms by practice and observation, and especially by reading some book printed in Phonography, of w hich there is now no scarcity. And we advise you to read the advanced rather than the elementary styles of Phonography, although you may not be able to write up to that style. Read the Corresponding rather than the Learner’s Style, and the Reporting rather than the Corresponding Style. You will have noticed in your progress through the text-books that various methods are adopted to indicate where the vowel occurs. In the formation of outlines generally, this provision for the vowel should be borne in mind ; indeed your success as an accurate writer of Phonography will depend very much upon your ability to vary certain combinations of consonants in such a way as to show where the vowel is to be read. For instance, platter would be written as ais the only vow t el that you need provide for; but in pelter, the accented vowel occurring between p and I, the initial hook would not be used, neither would ) ter be used at the end, as it can be more readily represented by doubling the l, thus you would get ' as the outline ; and in poultry another change w ould take place, because of the necessity to show the final vowel,

and as the final vowel cannot be added after ter got by doubling the preceding consonant, the word would have to Ik? written X I. We give a few more examples in order to make the subject clear to you. The reasons for the various modifications are self-evident. stray, as-tray, s-a-t-ire, st-ar, cX st-o-ry, oy-ster, au-st-cre, est-ua-ry. Observe that the above words contain the same consonants, str. 'X frost, cj frost-y, f-o-rced (rst), 'KJ > f-o-rest ; o-ffers, phr-ase, f-cars, f-u -rrows, X/Q ph-a-r-isee ; 1 tr-ou-gh (f), tr-o-phy, lx t-u-rf, t-e-rr-ify. Exercise 22 should be practised over and over again in shorthand, until it can be written and read with fluency and ease. The phrases on page 71 are to be practised and learned, and the remarks concerning them attentively considered. Paragraph 189 on “ Punctuation” should also be studied. In fast writing, obviously, it would hardly be possible to punctuate ; but in correspondence, private memoranda, etc., stops should not be neglected. Paragraph 194 explains the “ nominal consonant, which is an expedient for writing a word that contains no consonant. Such words are of very rare occurrence. The nominal consonant may be employed also to represent initials, when required ; thus, \ T ]p A* E. Edwards; but Christian names should be written in full when they are known. v Position.—lf you have been careful to attend to the admonitions which w'e have given from time to time respecting the positions or places of the vowels, you will find little or no difficulty in applying the rule of position to consonantal outlines, which we are now' to consider. As you advance from the point reached in the previous lesson you will find that the art of shorthand rej>orting lies in being able swiftly and correctly to write and read unvocalized outlines ; for in reporting it is impossible to insert many vowels. If, then, by altering the position of an outline we can indicate the vowel or principal vowel in a word, it will at once be seen what a saving in time and labor may be effected. In reporting, all w'ords, except those which have outlines of their ow r n, are written IN POSITION. As there are three vowel-places so there are three corresponding positions in which to write outlines : in the case of the vowels the positions are termed, first, second and third; outlines are written above, on and through the line. Thus, the outline f* In, in the first position, or above the line, may mean lawn, line, loin or lion ; the context will show' which of the four is the required word ; in the second position, or ON the line, it may mean lain , lane, lone or loan, as required by the context ; and in the third position, THROUGH the line, it may signify lean, lune or Uhlan, as also determined by the context. This rule of position obtains, IN REPORTING, with respect to all words that contain but one stroke-consonant, and to nearly all words that contain two stroke-consonants. When a word contains three or more and in some cases when it has but two, it generally happens that no other word contains the same consonants in the same, order. Such words have, consequently, outlines of their own, are readily recognized by their consonant forms, and should be w’ritten ON the line. For example, no advantage would accrue to the reader, in point of legibility, from hoisting up the outline Mr horizontal to the first position, because the accented vowel is a first-place one ; nor from w-riting XX s pulpit , %-s system , or criticism, through the line, in the third position, because the vowel is a third-place one. You are, of course, desirous of ultimately attaining the ability to “ take a verbatim note;” in other words, to he able to write fast and correctly enough to follow any ordinary speaker. The principle of position must, therefore, be attentively considered. If, on the contrary, your ambition soars no higher than to possess a know ledge of the art for the purposes of correspondence, private notes, or as an aid to your general studies, you will not need to go deeper into the mysteries of Phonography than those which are disclosed in the “ Manual,” and which will be disposed of in the present lesson. Our concluding lesson will be based on the “ Reporter” (25., cloth, 2s. 6d.) and “ Phrase Book” (is., cloth, is. 6d.), the two final text-books ; but we recommend you to allow some little time—say a month or so—to elapse before commencing the study of the principles therein set forth. But when you find that you can w'rite the Corresponding Style with fluency and according to principle , and read with ease, without reference to the Key, then is the proper time to commence the final stage of your “Studies in Phonography.” (To be concluded.)