Unit 2

     14. Circles Between Strokes.  Where an angle, or a point, is formed at the junction of consonants, the circle goes outside the angle:

     15. Where straight strokes and curves join without an angel, or where two similar-motion curves join without an angle, the circle is placed inside the curve.

     16. Some vowels are so obscure or neutral that they are omitted when they do not contribute to speed or legibility.  For example, the e in the words taken and maker is absolutely useless, and is omitted.  Any vowel which does not contribute to the legibility of an outline may be omitted.  Any vowel which does not contribute to the legibility of and outline may be omitted if its omission gives a more facile outline.

     17. Between straight strokes in the same direction the circle is written with right motion:

     18. Between opposite curves the circle is turned back on the first curve:

Consonant Combinations

     19. Kr and Gl Combinations.  K and r, and g and l, are equal curves and are made a little flatter than usual when joined, thus:

     20. Gr and Kl Combinations.  Where curves of unequal length join without an angle, as in the following, note how a distinction in length is positively shown.
     The movement in writing gr is similar to that in writing y in longhand; kl to that in writing h, thus:

     21. Rk and Lk Combinations.  Since r and k are of equal length, the curves are somewhat flatter, as with kr and gl.  Lk is very infrequent.

     22. The Signs for Th.  The sign for t is curved to express th, thus: or

Brief Forms for Common Words

     23. A comparatively small number of frequently recurring words make up a large part of the English language.  As an illustration, ten words—the, of and, to, a, in, that, it, is, I—form one-fourth of the entire written and spoken language.

     The forms for these frequent words are based on a very common method of abbreviation in longhand writing.  For example, amt. is written for amount; Rev. for Reverend; gym for gymnasium; ans. for answer: math. for mathematics, and so on. By taking advantage of this method of abbreviation, brief and easily remembered shorthand forms are obtained for the most common words in the language.  Some of these brief forms consists of letters you have not yet learned, so do not attempt to learn the new letters until the chapters in which they occur.

     *In some phrases they is written the same as the, as in they will.
Note: Refer to the alphabet page for explanation of characters.

24. Business Abbreviations

25. Reading and Dictation Practice

Transcription Key to this Unit
- Next Unit -