Abbreviations in Gregg Shorthand

[Deb]

Abbreviating Principle

Write as much of a word as necessary to suggest it when transcribing.

An abbreviation is a word-form in which a termination is dropped.

Short words in which the end of a word is omitted after a diphthong or strongly-sounded vowel

Days of month.

Figures

Remember that when you've taken notes in longhand, you've resorted to abbreivations for technical or other words. For instance on Physiology you would probably find: abd. = abdomen; art. = artery, etc. What are the characterstic of these abbreviations? They are brief, and they are suggestive, and they form the beginning of the word. This, then, is the underlying method of the Abbreviating Principle in Gregg Shorthand.

Please note: the ideal abbreviating principle would be to drop the terminations, but this is not always practical, for occassionallywe should get brevity at the expense of legibility; hence we something omit a medial stroke or syllable.

The manual list should be mastered. These must be memorized.


from Notes on Lessons in Gregg Shorthand
books.google.com/books?id=W0cZAAAAYAAJ&dq=Notes%20on%20Lessons%20in%20Gregg%20Shorthand&pg=PA42#v=onepage&q=Notes%20on%20Lessons%20in%20Gregg%20Shorthand&f=false



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These posts were taking from another discussion that was getting a bit long. So similar ideas will be copied here.

I decided to make this a separate post since there is a lot to learn on this. Although easier, since it does use similar abbreviating rules as long hand and it's easier to write and transcribe.

The original post was on Brief Forms. These are not brief forms, but similar.

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Drills and additional information can be found here: greggshorthand.proboards.com/thread/1305/abbreviations-gregg-shorthand-uses

[Deb]

Write through the accented syllable if the outline is distinctive.
Abbreviate--abbrev
language--lang
elaborate--elab

etc.

[Deb]

If a longhand abbreviation it is generally used, it furnishes a distinctive outline, as in the words,
'amount--amt',
'April-Apr', '
balance--bal',
'memorandum--memo

You can do this with words you are familiar with in your industry, hobby, or chosen career.

[Deb]

The application of the abbreviating principle is more or less flexible and depends to a large extent upon the familiarity of the writer with the words and subject matter in the dictation.

The abbreviating princple is not employed when advantage maybe taken of analogical or definate word building rules, and it should not be employed when easily written words forms are possible without it. A good rule to apply to any word is: when in doubt, write it out.

[Deb]

Never try to invent a shorted word or words that it become illegible. If you choose not to transcribe your notes right away or even lose those transcripts, you won't be able to read it. Use as much of the theory as possible. For example, the abbreviation "magazine" is "m-a-g", which uses the first few letters of the word. There are a few internet search results for 'mag' but not many that don't include "magazine".

The Anniversary edition of Gregg Shorthand has the most, so if you ever feel you need more in your shorthand outlines, you can see if it's been done before trying to invest something on your own.

Some new words won't have abbreviations or a shortened word, but you can still use something. A few current tech terms are here greggshorthand.proboards.com/thread/154/current-technology-terms , but you might find some words in your general life that weren't used during the time of Anniversary or your chosen system. So you can go ahead and invent a shortened form, but make it readable for you now and in the future.

For example, the letter combination 'k-m' can represent the words, came, come, cameo, unkempt, acme, etc. Yes you would know by the context, but years later? Maybe.

You may find during dictation combing across a word you don't know and abbreviating it, but try to get the most you can. If you find that it's a reasonable abbreviation that you will use often, you could adopt it into your shorthand.

You may wish to create your own dictionary if you choose to make your own abbreviations. greggshorthand.proboards.com/thread/1073/creating-own-shorthand-dictionary

[Deb]

Abbreviations:

Include vowels.
Retain the short form for prefixes, as "k" "com".

Some forms are slightly different. This just requires learning. Make up sentences and record and take down in dictation form to learn them thoroughly.

The theory involved in abbreviated words is so exceedingly SIMPLE that few of them require more than a working knowledge of the alphabet and a vowel placement.

If a sign and symbol and outline were not used earlier in learning. This is so a student wouldn't be confused by the abbreviation and the abbreviation principle.

[Deb]

ABBREVIATIONS

Words must be carried to a point where identification is complete. For example, in the word "absent" you might think "ab" is sufficient, but you need to make it identifiable from other outlines, so you would write "ab-s".

[Deb]

these are usually similar to long hand abbreviations. Some outlines are called abbreviations because they can be called that generally. For example, "magazine" in Anniversary is "m-a-g", "liberty" is "l-i-b" and basically an abbreviations of the long hand version. They were kept simple enough that it could be figured out in context when read and transcribed.

[Deb]

Write through the consonant following the accented syyllable if writing through the accented syllable does not give sufficiently distinctive form.
for example, 'absent' using 'ab' would NOT be sufficiently distinctive, but by writing 'abs' the word is immediately suggested.

Blends are treated as a single letter

[Deb]

The extent to which the principle may be applied depends upon the familarity of the writer with the words and subject matter. Every shorthand writer can apply it easily and naturally to familiar words, and adapt it to the special requirements of the line fo work in which you are doing.

[Deb]

Using Flashcards, electronic and paper, to learn these.
www.greggshorthand.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=qestionanswer&thread=573&page=1

Chart of the Alphabet
You could also include them as you learn them and make a chart. There is a suggestion to create a Chart of the Alphabet, which includes several of these as well as brief forms.

[Deb]

As you learn new ones, don't drop the first ones from drills, dictation, practice, flash card readings, etc., until they become so simple you are bored. Then drill on them occasionally to reinforce them. If you drill everyday on these, you can drop them to twice a week, then once a week. Continue moving the ones from the beginning to this slot of weekly drills until you have only a few left. Then they can be all weekly. This weekly review will not happen until well after you finish the manual.

[Deb]

The book suggests Unit 25, paragraph 193: these should be memorized thoroughly. When you aren't sure, you will hesitate in your writing or write it out and full and either of those could cause errors in transcription and later reading.

Do not undertake to learn too many at once. Learn them as they are presented in your manual.

HOWEVER, You don't need to memorize ALL of them. Memorize the basics that are used over and over. Then you can add some. There are some old books with old words that we don't use today, for example, the salutation in a letter, My Dear Madam. But the words used over and over as abbreviations that you will use should be memorized thoroughly. You will remember them easily as you take them in dictation and transcribe them.

[Deb]

Once you learn these, to make this more fun, challenging and learn quicker follow this procedure:

***Write down your time that it took you to write down abbreviations from dictation.
***Practice the same 1 minute spurt.
***Write down your time.

If you keep going up in the amount of words you are taking down, then give yourself a pat on the back (or gold star).

[Deb]

These are not as hard to memorize as you might think.

First, they are used very often in the English language. You will be writing them over and over and over. You won't even realize you're writing something slightly different then if it was written out in full.

Second, they are similar to what they would be if written out in full. There are very few that are too different then theory and principles.