Which Gregg have I learnt?

Hi.  I’ve just joined this group, and I’m Jonathan.  I live in the Sheffield, UK, and teach music for a living.  The ‘cello is my main instrument.
When my Grandma died years ago, we cleared out her flat and I came across my Grandad’s Gregg Shorthand book, and was intrigued.  That’s how I came to discover Gregg.
This book says on the front, Gregg Shorthand, Part 1.  It’s a pocket size, grey hardback, arranged into 8 lessons, with 53 paragraphs.  There’s about 200 brief forms in total.
I have two questions.  Firstly, there is no year of publication in this book, so I’m wondering if anyone knows which version of Gregg I’ve learned.
Secondly, everything in Part 1 seems to let me write absolutely anything in Gregg, so I’m wondering what’s in Part 2.
Any help would be appreciated.  Thanks.
Jonathan.

(by jonnycello for everyone)


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  1. Some more information:  in the front it says Victory Edition, Part 1.   In the preface it says, "It was prepared in response to a demand from teachers in the many war emergency courses in shorthand".   Jonathan.

  2. I know that Gregg published special editions of the books for the UK, in fact, they had an office there, I believe in London.  The years of publication may be different, but there should be correspondence between the US and UK versions.  As to what part 2 of your particular book would contain, perhaps is the key to the book, or more principles.   Based on what you said (in particular that the book you have contains 53 paragraph in 8 lessons), I believe you write Pre-Anniversary, but figuring out which version you learned should be relatively straightforward.   1.  How do you write the word "above"?  If you write it as "abo", you write Pre-Anniversary Gregg (before 1929).  If you write it as "abv", you write Anniversary Gregg.  If you write "abov", you write Simplified or later.   2.  If you write Pre-Anniversary, we can pinpoint which version of the manual you have.  If you write the word "believe" as "be", you write the 1916 version of the manual. If you write "ble", you write one of the Pre-Anniv versions prior to 1916.   3.  If you write one of the Pre-Anniv versions prior to 1916, we can probably tell which year by the way you write the word "order".  If you write it as "oder", you write the original version.  If you write as "od", then you write the 1902 version of the manual.   Now, I went all the way backwards in time.  We could do the same exercise by going forward in time, starting from Simplified.  But from the looks of it, more than  likely you write the old versions of Gregg.   Let us know if this helps.

  3. Hi, Chuck.   I write above as abo, and believe as be, so I must have the 1916 version.  So, is pre-anniversary better than aniversary?  Could someone who has learned anniversary read my Gregg?  I would particularly like to know the answer to the second question, because I would like a Gregg penpal.   Thanks,   Jonathan.

  4. Pre-Anniv and Anniversary are very similar.  A person that learned Anniversary should not have a problem reading Pre-Anniv.  Myself, though I learned Anniversary, I "borrowed" some principles from Pre-Anniv and apply them all the when I'm writing.  Likewise, you shouldn't have a problem reading any version of Gregg whatsoever.

  5. Tell me, Chuck, as many principles of pre-anniversary as possible that are different from Anniversary.  I am curious as to what I could add to my writing.  All that I really know are a few of its brief forms, the lit- beginning, and the patr- beginning.

  6. Here are some principles that appear in Pre-Anniversary.  If I can think of additional ones, I will post them as well.   Brief forms:  above (abo), after (af), behalf (bf), by (ba), check (ch-k), man (mn), men (men), principal (pr), season (ssn), teach (tch), upon (pn), usually (oo-sh), vowel (vl). In words written according to the Tr- principle, the following prefixes are added: Alter (o-hook turned sideways), Ultra (oo-hook turned sideways), Later (la over the line), Letr or Liter (li over the line), Matri or Mater (ma over the line), Nitr (nai over the line), Nutr or Neutr (nu over the line), Patr or Pater (pa over the line), Petr (pe over the line), Austr or Ostr (os over the line), Abstr (abs over the line), Obstr (obs over the line). The prefix hydra- is written as "ai" over the line. The suffix -ness is written as a joined n. The suffix -vity is a disjoined v. The suffix -ntic is a disjoined n. The suffix -itis is a disjoined ts. The following expedients are used in phrase writing: Indication of “Ing”: In phrases with ing-the, ing-that, ing-you, ing-your, ing-his, ing-their, ing-and, ing-this, ing-us (such as “doing the”, “having your”, etc.), the -ing dot is eliminated and we place the next word in the position of the dot. This is used a lot in reporting. The phrase “of the” is omitted, and instead, you write the words closer to each other than the rest of the words. For example, in writing the phrase “end of the day”, you write the words “end” and “day” closer together than normal. In phrases like “from X to Y” you eliminate the “from” and “to” and write the two words as one. So the phrase “from day to day” you write “dayday”, one word. In phrases like “X after X”, you omit the “after” and write the two words closer together, but not joined. So “day after day”, you write “day day”, next to each other. In phrases like “X by Y”, you omit the “by” and write the second word a little below the first one, close together. So “day by day” is written as “day day”, with the second “day”starting under the line of writing, close to the first “day”. Omit the word “to” after the words “able”, “according”, “glad”, “like”, “order”, “please”, “reference”, “regard”, “regret”, “relative”, “respect”, “wish”. Some miscellaneous words: culture (coolshoo), approval (aprva), automobile (u-tm-bl), civilization (sves-sh), girl (grl), operation (opr-sh), production (prd-sh).

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