Gregg Speed Studies/Speed Study 13

by John Robert Gregg

Layout 2

SPEED STUDY XIII
THIRTEENTH LESSON

Building Up a Working Vocabulary.—It will be well for the student to take four or five words illustrating each principle—selecting the most frequently recurring words—and practice these until skill in using the suffixes has been acquired. Each group of words thus mastered will form a nucleus for all words of the same class. This practice should be followed through the remaining lessons of the Manual.

Size of Shorthand Characters.—Nothing perhaps adds so much to speed and ease of execution as a size of notes that is adapted to the individual. In shorthand as much depends upon manual skill as upon mental activity, and the highest achievement depends upon a harmonious, rhythmical cooperation of the two.

It is obvious that all persons cannot write notes of uniform size. It would be as reasonable to set a measure for a stride in walking or running. The characteristics of the individual must therefore be taken into account. But while the size may vary with the individual, the proportion of one character to another should always be maintained. In no other way can accuracy be acquired.

In determining the size of notes there is one bit of advice that cannot lead you astray—don't write large, sprawling notes. Other things being equal, a small note is better than a large one, for the reason that the greater the distance the hand travels, the more rapid must be its speed. If the hand is moving rapidly, control of it is not so easily maintained as when writing at a slower speed, and in consequence the notes will lose in symmetry. At the beginning of the study, make the characters small and accurate; they will very likely increase somewhat in size when you begin to take dictation. If you have had considerable training in penmanship, the notes should be in keeping with the size of your longhand letters. Avoid a cramped style as much as you would a large one. Make a close study of your notes and adopt a size that is adapted to your hand, but if there is any doubt in your mind select the smallest possible size you can execute with freedom of movement.

The Studies in the earlier lessons provide much valuable material for practice, and the student should aim to incorporate the characteristics of the examples in his writing. He will soon find that he is acquiring a grace of motion in writing and a comfortable feeling of being unhampered by mechanical difficulties that is as gratifying to the mind as it is conducive to speed in writing.

Value of Compactness.—Writing on this subject, the accomplished shorthand reporter, H. W. Thorne, said:

"Acquire the habit of writing neatly and compactly. This conduces to speed. Large, sprawling outlines have the opposite tendency.

The argument that small characters produce a cramped action of the hand, and, hence result in loss of speed, while a large, free, swinging style carries the writer forward with "leaps and bounds," thereby enhancing speed, was effectually controverted a quarter of a century ago."

The illustration following is intended to show the difference between small, compact notes and large, widely spaced writing:

Small, Compact Notes.—Correct Style

The dotted lines show the direct line of travel from one outline to another.

Large, Sprawling Notes.—Incorrect Style

The dotted lines, indicating the trail of the pen, show how little attention was paid to economy in movement by spacing the outlines far apart, by waste motion between outlines, and by not considering the point at which the next outline begins.

The elimination of unrecorded movements—as indicated by dotted lines in the foregoing—should receive the very earnest attention of students.

BUSINESS LETTERS

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THE SECRET BLOTTING PAD

Harper's Weekly

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