Gregg Speed Studies/Speed Study 11

by John Robert Gregg

Layout 2

SPEED STUDY XI
ELEVENTH LESSON

Phrase-Writing—Elementary.—Phrase-writing has been well described as an art within an art." There is no doubt that a great saving of time and effort is effected by judicious phrase-writing. The purpose of joining words is to eliminate the loss of time occasioned by lifting the pen and in passing from one shorthand form to another. The theory is that each pen-lift is equal to a stroke, and therefore that every word joined saves time equivalent to writing a stroke.

Limitations of Phrase-Writing.—This theory, however, is true only where there is no hesitancy in joining the words. Furthermore, it is not true of very long phrases, because such phrases destroy the rhythm of shorthand writing. There is no question about this: that a great saving of time is effected by joining the commonly occurring expressions.

The Kind of Phrases to Practice.—Phrases are of three kinds: (1) those which have been memorized and can be written fluently without conscious attention; (2) those which are devised from well-understood principles, such as "to-be," "as-well-as," "have-been," "you-do-not," etc.; (3) those which are improvised on the spur of the moment.

As phrase writing is an art, it is only by much experience that the student will gain a knowledge of just what words can be joined with safety and advantage, but this knowledge will be more quickly acquired through a close study of the examples given in the textbook than in any other way. At first it will be well to confine the phrasing to simple, common, everyday expressions consisting of not more than five strokes.

How to Practice Phrases.—Phrases, like wordsigns, are useful only if thoroughly mastered. The phrases illustrated in the Eleventh Lesson are among the most common phrases of the language, and the student should devote sufficient practice to them to be able to execute them with great rapidity and accuracy. A point to be remembered in executing phrases is that ultimately a phrase is one compact thing. Think of it as one word and it will be executed in that way. There should be no stop at the joinings. By thinking of each word separately there will be a tendency to stop at the end of each word, and facility in execution will thus be lost, but it is necessary while learning the long phrases to separate them into smaller units. If difficulty is experienced in executing some of the phrases consisting of several strokes, practice a part of the phrase at a time until the difficulties of that part have been removed. Then add a little more to it and so on until the whole phrase can be written without a perceptible stop. The following illustrations will make this clear:

you will be sorry to learn	you will not be able
?	?
I would like to see	I have not been able
?	?

Drill 1

Practice each of the short phrases, such as " it-is," "of-the," "to-be," "with-this," given in the Eleventh Lesson of the Manual until it can be executed accurately at a very rapid speed. Read all the notes, repracticing any forms that are not well written. The elements of the short phrases need not be separated for practice as they present no very great executional difficulties.

Drill 2

The following additional phrases should be practiced in sections, and then in whole. The long phrases of the Manual should be included.

Practice in reading is just as important as writing

Key: we-are-sorry-to-say, we-regret-to-say, I-would-like-to-have, I-would-like-to-know, I-do-not-wish, we-have-not-been, I-hope-that, we-hope-to-hear, you-do-not-believe, for-the-first-time, several-months-ago, at-this-time, many-weeks-ago, you-don't-care, they-have-been, glad-to-know, to-become, to-day-or-to-morrow, we-told-him, we-are-in-receipt-of-your-letter, in-reference-to-this, the-goods, I-am-sorry-to-learn, recent-letter, suggest-that, in-order-to-be, several-days-ago, in-respect-to-the.

Colloquial Expressions.—It is often necessary to distinguish colloquial expressions, especially in writing testimony, poetry, or dialogue. Usually the contracted form of "not" can be represented by "nt," except, of course, in the case of "wasn't" where it is necessary to add the apostrophe. In other contractions, the apostrophe is used.

Drill 3

Key: couldn't, didn't, doesn't, haven't, hasn't, shouldn't, wouldn't, I'm, I'll, we'll, you'll, they're, it'll.

Phrase Vocabulary.—It will be well for the student to make up a list of all the common phrases to be found in the first ten lessons and add these to those given in the Eleventh Lesson. These should be used for practice in both reading and writing. By adding these phrases to the writing vocabulary a decided increase in speed will be noticed. Constant review of the phrases is necessary until they are written automatically. Dictation and reading of the notes are absolutely essential to a successful handling of the phrasing problem.

BUSINESS LETTERS

For-which, we-are-sending-you, receipted, we-thank-you-for-the, courteous, to-our-letter, your-recent-letter, I-am-glad, that-the-order, designs, remainder, we-hope-that, entirely-satisfactory, absence, we-shall-draw, on-that-date, if-this-is-not, I-send-you, for-collection, against. Directory, from-him, with-reference-to-the-matter, few-days-ago, I-have-not-received, Dear-Mr., Phelps, we-are-in-receipt-of-your-letter, immediate-attention, we-are-sorry-to-say, pamphlets, you-may-have, to-wait, week-or-two, indeed, decree, Robert, Wallace, which-may-be, asked.

Looked, the-order, Albert, we-find, of-nails, hammers, called, should-have, reached, before-this, we-are-having, suggest, freight, original, promptly, Grant, quality, certainly, customers, we-sent, pairs, firm, Clinton, afternoon, wired.