Gregg Speed Studies/Speed Study 19

by John Robert Gregg

Layout 2

SPEED STUDY XIX
EIGHTEENTH LESSON

Special Phrases—"Morning," "Night," "Sunday."—The word "morning" is represented by "mn-ing," and "night" by "ni." These forms lend themselves to very easy and useful phrases, as will be seen in the following:

Key: Sunday-morning, Monday-morning, Tuesday-morning, Wednesday-morning, Thursday-morning, Friday-morning, Saturday-morning, this-morning, next-morning, yesterday-morning, to-morrow-morning, Sunday-night, Monday-night, Tuesday-night, Wednesday-night, Thursday-night, Friday-night, Saturday-night, to-morrow-night, to-night.

Railroad Phrases.—Among the railroad phrases in which the principle of intersection is used there are:

Key: freight-train, passenger-train, local-train, local-freight, local-freight-train, local- passenger-train.

Blended Phrases.—See also page 73, Drill 3.

Key: to-do, to-me, ought-to-know, ought- to-make, it-is-said, it-is-certain, it-was-said, it-was-certain, you-can-judge.

Modification of Wordforms.—Among the special modifications which are of frequent occurrence, the following may be added to those given in the Manual:

Key: rather-than, greater-than, longer-than, larger-than, sooner-than.

Injudicious Phrase-forms.—Phrasing in shorthand depends largely upon the temperament of the writer. In its broader sense, much of it has to be learned by observation and experience. There are general principles underlying the whole fabric , but the application of these must be left to a great extent to the writer. Phrasing can easily be carried to the extreme and it can also be injudicious in other ways. The study of the writing of young writers, particularly, discloses phrases which to the experienced eye are either unsafe or are not advisable from the practical standpoint. The Manual lays down the general rules in paragraph 72. In one paragraph it says: "The prepositions to, of, in, and with, and the conjunction and are generally joined to the words they precede, as to-have, of-which, in-case, with-this, and-there."

But in students' notes we have studied we find these: "expected me-to spend," "if you care-to look."

Thephrases "me-to" and " care-to"violate the foregoing rule, and they are not natural phrases either in speaking or in writing. The phrases "to-spend" and "to-look" are natural and easy.

Another mistake is that of joining a pronoun to the preceding word instead of the word following, thus: "If-I make." The natural joining here is "I-make"—not "if-I."

It is seldom advisable to phrase where the first word ends with a vowel or the second word begins with a vowel. Other examples of injudicious phrases are: "already-have," "and when," "give-it," "credit-me," "far-more." The intervening vowel makes each of these forms appear as one word instead of a phrase-form. We said "seldom advisable," because there are some forms in which it is possible to join with safety and advantage—such forms as "very-many," "very-much," "very-great," "let-me," "tell-me,"—but these are so common, so colloquial, that they have become familiar to the eye and mind. We think that although most writers join "very-many," "very-much," "very-great," few of them would join "very well," simply because "well," being represented by a single stroke, is not sufficiently characteristic.

A careful study of the phrase-forms given in the Manual and Phrase Book will well repay the time so expended. These furnish types of phrases which if learned well will impress the idea upon the writer so that he can apply it to new phrases.—Editorial in the Gregg Writer.

BUSINESS LETTERS

Dealers, generators, defective, replacements, we-have-drawn, balance, presentation, for-granted, next-ten-days, delayed, with-the-least-possible-delay, several-thousand, Northern-Pacific, specifications, dimensions, cut, tamarack, fir, pine, how-many, ties.

Your-account, amounting, if-you-desire, to-take-advantage, it-will-be-necessary, to-send-us, we-ask-that, this-matter, early-attention, at-the-earliest-possible-moment, giving-this, personal-attention, my-letter, order-blank, price-list, instructions, this-claim, if-we-do-not, stockholders.

Relative, blocks, and-will-ship, uncompleted, at-as-early-a-date-as-possible, considerable, trouble, intentionally, preference, you-are-aware-of-the-fact, council, formal, proposed, paving, Massachusetts-Avenue, center-of-the, commissioners, greater-than, protests, calling-your-attention.

Competition, narrow, profit, specialty, wins, salt, buying, select, attractive, packages, co-operation, producing-that, source, honestly, profitable, heretofore, so-far-as, on-the-market, slip, sacks, branded, barrels, showing-this, guaranteed, in- the-market , and-let-us.

PIONEERS OF THE PACIFIC COAST

George H. Williams

Slowly, wagons, dingy, oxen, travel-stained, depicted, anxious, abodes, discomforts, pioneers, wax, day-after-day, toilsome, resumed, Indian, scares, rugged, ascents, declivities, of-marvelous, beauty, gloomy, forests, majestic, mountains, genial, heavens.