ACTUAL ONLINE SESSION

Basic Stenography 1 by: John Robert Gregg

The value of Shorthand

Gregg Shorthand is one of the most valuable subjects you will ever learn. There are several
reasons why such a powerful statement is true.
First of all, shorthand is a lifelong personal skill which relieves one from the drudgery of
writing longhand. Shorthand makes it possible for most people to write three or four times faster
than their longhand writing speed. Over a lifetime, this saves a tremendous amount of time.

Lesson 1 (Day 1)
1. Shorthand is written by sound; thus aim is written am (long sound of a), cat is written
kat, knee is written ne.

CONSONANTS
2. The Consonants are arranged in pairs, according to their affinity of sound, and are
distinguished by a difference in length.

The characters for the consonants in this lesson are derived from an elliptical
figure, thus:

Letter/s Signs Words Letter Signs Words

K can T it, at

G go, good D would

R are, our, hour H . a, an

L will, well Th the, there

N in, not their

M am, more I
He
F fore, for, four

V have B by, been, be

P A a, an

E I long i

J Judge O

S W

The symbol for “sh” and “CH”

The symbol for “shun” and “tion”

The signs for “S”

The signs for “S” written downward, are taken form a small elliptical figure, thus:

The right motion “S” is called “right S”

 The left motion “S” is called “left S”

In practical writing the sound of “Z” is expressed by the sign for “S”, since no confusion
arises using the same character for both sounds in connected writing. We already are
accustomed to writing and readind “S” for “Z” in English, as in “rays”, “praise”

It is seldom necessary to make a distinction between “S” and “Z”, but when it is,
a shord dash is struck at a right angle to the sign for “S” to show that it has the sound
of “Z”.

RACE RAISE GAS GAZE

Initial and Final “S”. I before and after p, b, r, and l, and after t, d, n, m, and o,
the left “S” used

SIPS PHRASE DAZE SABLES

SLIM KNEES SERIES TEASE

In all other cases the right “S” is used:

SAVES SEEDS SASHES SEEKS

SNAP SKETCHES STAFF SMASH

A circled placed outside the angle in any of these joinings does not change the
motion.

SELL SPELL SALARY SALE

SPREAD SELF PIECE SPARE

TRACE DRESS LESS BUSY

SLIP CRAZY PRESS SLEEP

ASLEEP SALES AS SAY

3. All these consonants are written forward from left to right; th and t and d are struck
upwards from the line of writing. The g given in this lesson is called gay, being the
hard sound as in game, get, and not the soft sound heard in gem, magic. The
aspirate h is indicated by a dot placed over the vowel. Many frequently recurring
words are represented by simple alphabetic characters.

4. Phrasing. The joining of simple words is a great help to accuracy and speed in
Writing shorthand, and its acquirement should be deferred until the habit of writing
Common words separately has been formed.

I will He can It will In the

I can We can He will We will

5. Punctuation, etc. In shorthand the following marked are used:

Period paragraph interrogation dash hypen parenthesis

BRIEF FORMS (to remember)

THIS/THESE THAT THEY THE

THERE/THEIR WITH WITHOUT WITHIN

WHO WHEN WHERE WERE

COULD WOULD SHOULD SHALL

Capitals and proper names are indicated by two short dashes beneath the word.

(sounds of A, E, N, M, T, D, punctuation, paragraph and capitalization)

NAME SOUNDS EXPLANATION

NAME NAM e is silent

RIGHT RIT gh is silent

NAVY NAVE y sounds like e

STAY STA y is silent

FACE FAS c sounds like s

(A E N M WORDS)
The following words contain the long sounds of a, e, n, and m. The symbol for
each sound in a word are joined together to form a word, it is called outline.

ME MAIN AIM

MAY KNEE NAME

MEAN

SOUNDS OF T, D, words

DAY MATE TEAM

DATE MEET/MEAT TAME

DEED TEA ATE

MADE EAT AID/AIDE

WRECK RAG LAKE

KILL CREAM EAGLE

CRATE GLARE MAKER

CRANE GLEE ACRE

Lesson 2 (sounds of H – ing, long i)

The shorthand symbol for the sounds of h and -ing is a dot. The letter H which almost
always occurs at the beginning of a word, is represented by a dot placed above the
vowel.

The sound of -ing which almost always occurs at the end of a word, is represented by a
dot placed closed to the end of the body of the outline.

Example:
 Meeting ___________
H, -ing Words

HE NAMING TAMING

HEAT MEETING HEADING

HEATING HATE DATING

H, -ing practice

PUNCTUATION AND PARAGRAPH SYMBOLS

Special symbols are used to represent the period and question mark at the end of a
sentence. Note that an ordinary commais used within a circle.

Period Hypen Question Mark Paragraph

Comma dash Exclamation point Left parenthesis

Semicolon colon right parenthesis

CAPITALIZED WORDS

May Dean Amy Nate

Steven Keith Smith Jane

LONG I Words

HIGH MINE NIGHT MY

TIE DIE/DYE MIGHT KITE

TIED DYING FLY TRY

CRY BRIGHT SLIGHT TIGHT

FIGHT BITE SIGHT/CITE/SITE LIGHT

NOW THAT YOU ARE ALREADY FAMILIAR WITH THE SHORTHAND ALPHABET,
WRITE YOUR NAME USING THE SHORTHAND ALPHABET

EX:

LEILA JANE KARA MARY

JOHN GRACE BETH KARYLLE

DENNIS CARL JANNA STACEY