Post by Deb on Feb 15, 2010 17:12:25 GMT -5
SUGGESTIONS FOR GAINING SPEED
1. Most important of all is the acquirement of a thorough,
second-nature familiarity with the principles, and the adoption |
of a certain, unvarying way of writing every common outline.
This will eliminate mental hesitation in writing.
Much slovenly written | shorthand is improperly attributed to
faulty hand movement. Though we may not realize it, the
ill-shapen notes are really due | to the brain's being so overoccu-
pied with the halting, harrowing, laborious process of forming
mental conceptions of outlines, that | it is powerless to give any*
thing like a proper direction to the hand.
2. .Write carefully formed, mediumnsiaed notes, I 1 with a fine
pointed, flexible pen (such as Gillott's 604EF or Spencerian
No. 1), upon smooth, | calendered paper, using jet black ink
(such as Higgins' "Eternal" writing fluid). Let the unshaded
strokes be fine " hair lines " ; | let the shaded strokes be broad
and heavy, and made with a bold, firm stroke of the pen.
I think | it well to poise the hand on the tip or first joint of the
little finger, to hold the wrist | high, and to hold the pen as nearly
vertical as possible. Place the outlines in the same natural
rhetorical groups |* as those in which the words themselves are
spoken, leaving from three eighths to half an inch space between
the | groups and packing the outlines in each group as closely
together as possible.
3. la practice, write all shorthand notes | so slowly that you
will be able to read them fluently and accurately. Read every-
thing that you write, aloud, as | though to a jury, making short
pauses, for natural expression and emphasis, between the groups
of outlines. It is excellent | practice to read well-written notes
the second and even the third time, aloud. No matter how
slowly you may |' be writing, take the greatest pains with your
notes. When you are reading, no matter how perfect the notes,
concentrate | your mind to the utmost upon them. Aim to com-
prehend the outlines, not singly, but in groups, and to "look J
ahead " at' least one group.
In this way, your shorthand development will be whole-
some, substantial, and well balanced. Beware of | " mushroom "
speed, attained at the expense of your reading ability and the
quality of your shorthand. It may seem strange | to you that
slow practice should develop more speed than fast practice, but it
is nevertheless the fact. Shorthand practice | 4 at too high a speed
58 worse than useless as speed practice. Poring over slovenly
notes and laboriously digging out | their meaning is, so far as add- *
ing to your reading ability is concerned, an utter waste of time.
For one | who has been properly trained, it is just as easy and
natural to write well-formed, instantly readable notes, all | day in
court, as to write poor notes. It is largely a matter of habit.
4. While your advancement will | depend, in great measure,
upon the extent of your practice, it will depend, in far greater
measure, upon the earnestness | s and concentration of that prac-
tice. Remember that an hour's practice when you are wide
awake, alert, and eager, is worth | three hours' practice when
you are tired and stupid.
Follow unswervingly the shorthand gospel as laid down for
you by | those whom you have chosen to follow, and do not waste
your time in fruitless discussions with other tyros, like | your-
self, as to how you make this or that outline. Be humble,
earnest, and faithful -^ not chatty and know-it | -all. Some
writers will show more improvement in one year than others
will in five. Why not be of the |* former class ? (602)
Clyde H. Marshaxi*
from Shorthand and Dictation www.archive.org/details/shorthanddictat00bridgoog
1. Most important of all is the acquirement of a thorough,
second-nature familiarity with the principles, and the adoption |
of a certain, unvarying way of writing every common outline.
This will eliminate mental hesitation in writing.
Much slovenly written | shorthand is improperly attributed to
faulty hand movement. Though we may not realize it, the
ill-shapen notes are really due | to the brain's being so overoccu-
pied with the halting, harrowing, laborious process of forming
mental conceptions of outlines, that | it is powerless to give any*
thing like a proper direction to the hand.
2. .Write carefully formed, mediumnsiaed notes, I 1 with a fine
pointed, flexible pen (such as Gillott's 604EF or Spencerian
No. 1), upon smooth, | calendered paper, using jet black ink
(such as Higgins' "Eternal" writing fluid). Let the unshaded
strokes be fine " hair lines " ; | let the shaded strokes be broad
and heavy, and made with a bold, firm stroke of the pen.
I think | it well to poise the hand on the tip or first joint of the
little finger, to hold the wrist | high, and to hold the pen as nearly
vertical as possible. Place the outlines in the same natural
rhetorical groups |* as those in which the words themselves are
spoken, leaving from three eighths to half an inch space between
the | groups and packing the outlines in each group as closely
together as possible.
3. la practice, write all shorthand notes | so slowly that you
will be able to read them fluently and accurately. Read every-
thing that you write, aloud, as | though to a jury, making short
pauses, for natural expression and emphasis, between the groups
of outlines. It is excellent | practice to read well-written notes
the second and even the third time, aloud. No matter how
slowly you may |' be writing, take the greatest pains with your
notes. When you are reading, no matter how perfect the notes,
concentrate | your mind to the utmost upon them. Aim to com-
prehend the outlines, not singly, but in groups, and to "look J
ahead " at' least one group.
In this way, your shorthand development will be whole-
some, substantial, and well balanced. Beware of | " mushroom "
speed, attained at the expense of your reading ability and the
quality of your shorthand. It may seem strange | to you that
slow practice should develop more speed than fast practice, but it
is nevertheless the fact. Shorthand practice | 4 at too high a speed
58 worse than useless as speed practice. Poring over slovenly
notes and laboriously digging out | their meaning is, so far as add- *
ing to your reading ability is concerned, an utter waste of time.
For one | who has been properly trained, it is just as easy and
natural to write well-formed, instantly readable notes, all | day in
court, as to write poor notes. It is largely a matter of habit.
4. While your advancement will | depend, in great measure,
upon the extent of your practice, it will depend, in far greater
measure, upon the earnestness | s and concentration of that prac-
tice. Remember that an hour's practice when you are wide
awake, alert, and eager, is worth | three hours' practice when
you are tired and stupid.
Follow unswervingly the shorthand gospel as laid down for
you by | those whom you have chosen to follow, and do not waste
your time in fruitless discussions with other tyros, like | your-
self, as to how you make this or that outline. Be humble,
earnest, and faithful -^ not chatty and know-it | -all. Some
writers will show more improvement in one year than others
will in five. Why not be of the |* former class ? (602)
Clyde H. Marshaxi*
from Shorthand and Dictation www.archive.org/details/shorthanddictat00bridgoog