Hi all, I’ve been foraying into Anniversary after four years with Simplified, and have a question that isn’t addressed in the manual. In words like “count”, “account” etc, the “oun” is omitted. In Simplified, it’s included.
I know of the rule of omitting “ou” before n/m in the body of a word, but I can’t find omitting the whole “oun” anywhere, even though I’d been writing “k t” out of laziness before I delved into the Anniversary manual.
Where in the manual is this rule and if it isn’t laid out specifically, does it only apply to “count” or other “oun”s too? I seem to recall “bound” being written just “b n” but the n is still there!
Thanks for any ideas 🙂
(by niftyboy1 for everyone)
Interesting indeed! In the Simplified manual, it presents "common word endings" like -use, -ire, -quent just as more endings to learn, without even mentioning this abbreviating principle.
I take it that those and the obscure sets of abbreviated words (anniversary, alphabet, atmosphere) thrown in the Simplified manual are vestiges of this principle left in but just called something else?
I'm kind of nervous about switching over to Anniversary because of this huge memory load, despite the presence of certain very seductive principles (writing "a r t" has always been a problem for me in Simplified but "back-a t" is infinitely easier)… How do you console learners looking over the brink of Anniversary? 😛
Sure, there is a simple explanation. But before that, for clarification, "count" is written as k – nt, whereas "account" is a – k – t, and all derivatives of "account" (such as "accountant", "accountable", etc.) have the n omitted as well. The reason for the omission of the n in "account" is because that word is written using the Abbreviating Principle. It is actually the application of paragraph 195 of the Anniv manual: if there is a longhand abbreviation, it is generally used if it furnishes a distinctive outline, as in the words amount (amt.), balance (bal.), memorandum (memo). "Account" is abbreviated "acct." in longhand, so to make it simple, we use a-k-t. The word is included in Gregg Speed Studies, Second Edition, paragraph 143, and on the Third Edition of the same, paragraph 234. Read below my post on the Abbreviating Principle. It summarizes most of the words that are included. http://groups.msn.com/GreggShorthand/general.msnw?action=get_message&mview=0&ID_Message=2164&LastModified=4675521235506741418
Indeed you are correct — that's where those "obscure" words in Simplified come from. But if you know Simplified (and I mean, if you really know), you're almost halfway there! The rest is just memorization of new words and a few additional principles. One of the things I like about Anniv is indeed the Abbreviating Principle. Once you know the application, you cannot live without it. But it requires practice! In Simplified, the words that they retained that came from this principle were either converted to brief forms, or provided in special lists. Of course, there will be a learning curve switching to Anniv, and learning from the regular Anniv manual can be intimidating, but if you're motivated, you will learn. I find it best to learn Anniversary from the two volume Functional Method books by Leslie (that's how I learned Anniv). The lessons in this one are designed so that you learn the material slowly but surely. I use the regular Anniv manual only as a reference, as I consider it lousy for learning the system. Debi has made the switch from DJS, and Andrew has switched from Simplified. They can better tell you how they did it.
Chuck: Would this be the book you used?
Gregg shorthand: Manual for the functional method; arranged in accordance with the Anniversary edition of Gregg shorthand
Louis A Leslie (1936)
And did you start learning Anniversary from the get-go or did you start with a simpler edition and "upgrade"?
Thanks 🙂
That's indeed the book (two volumes, Part 1 and Part 2). And yes, I learned Anniversary from the get-go, and supplemented with more principles from Pre-Anniv. In other words, I abbreviate quite heavily!