ing a mental note of any word over the outline of which you are puzzled. The amateur will meet with them constantly. When taking dictation, do not stop your dictator, but make an attempt to write the word and draw a circle around it. When the dictation is finished return to it. If you have a long outline, don't be satisfied with it, work at it until you have discovered a briefer form, which will be even more legible. Apply the rules, and when you have found the best outline, practice it until you can write it with facility—and then it will never bother you again. If this be done intelligently with every new word, you will be astonished to find how in a very little while, as your capacity for handling the word-building principles increases, the most difficult words will become easy.
Don't write a new word in longhand—it discloses your weakness, and will cause others to lose confidence in your ability, besides having a pernicious effect on you. Write the word in shorthand to the best of your ability, and, as the esteemed author of our system says, "put a ring around it," as a reminder, so that you may get the best form later on by your own efforts, from the teacher, or from the shorthand dictionary.
You will be assisted much in writing new and uncommon words, if you will occasionally review your text-book. Review all the principles and characters in the text-book, and you will be astonished to find
