dictionary, and learn exactly how it is spelled and used. We have found that the best way to learn spelling is to write the word several times in longhand, or on the machine, if you have one. Write it ten or a dozen times in longhand until its exact spelling is photographed upon the brain. Once it is fixed there, you will never have any further trouble with it. The attempt to learn spelling by mere rote is absolutely useless. Write out the word many times, apply it in sentences, and before long your vocabulary will be increased and your spelling will be improved. Keep a dictionary by your side and refer to it whenever necessary.
PUNCTUATION.
In addition to accuracy in spelling, the stenographer should have an accurate knowledge of punctuation. One is quite as essential as the other. While the language is dictated, the correct spelling and punctuation must necessarily be the sole work of the stenographer. It behooves the student, then, to study punctuation carefully. A misplaced comma has sometimes been the cause of endless trouble. Only very recently it was necessary to recall the legislature of New Jersey for an extra session through the omission of a comma in a certain clause of an important hill. In business, sentences should be short and concise. Commas should be used only where the sense demands them. The semicolon is
