Hi guys! I’ve been trying to get a hang of the r principle and seem to have it at least understood, though I’m not sure when to omit the R with no representation of it even being there (like “large”).
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I seem to notice a few patterns in that rather large list of words (at least I hope so!). I notice the R omitted altogether in:
1. the rules left in Simplified, like -ort, -turn/-turm
2. between a forward and a downstroke, where reversing the circle would be difficult to keep legible (large, nervous)
3. with an S before curved downstrokes, where switching the direction of the circle vowel would be really sloppy and unreadable (surface, surprise, certain, circle; but not “search” since it’s a straight downstroke)
4. with O in general since it can’t be reversed (border, endorse, orchestra)
5. tern/dern, replaced with “tn”
The only word I can’t place that’s in that list is “firm”, since I’d’ve thought it was in the same group as “charm” and “burn”, between a downward character and a straight stroke.
Let me know if these are even rules I can rely on (i.e. they aren’t riddled with exceptions), and if there are others maybe!
Thanks for your input 🙂
(by niftyboy1 for everyone)
"Firm" is a wordsign in 1916—it's faster to write without the reverse r, and distinct from "from".
Your rule 2. is suspect. Sometimes writing the "r" instead of a soft vowel is better: "emergency" is an example.
3.; "surprise" is written with the "super-" prefix. In "Certain", the "r" sound is followed by the "t" sound (an upward stroke). In "Circle", "k" follows the "r" sound (a forward stroke). in "Search", "surgery", etc., the "s" is reversed to indicate "r".
4. is right.
5. "r" is omitted in "turn", "term", etc., and usually "dern". The blend never implies an "r."
The Anniversary manual may give some of the hard and fast rules about formation that you're looking for (it often does), but I found Chapter 8 of 1916 sufficient. No hard and fast rules are given there, mind you, just examples; and I think it has more to do with the prominence of the "r" and its adjacent vowels than it has to do with outline formation.
Good luck!
The answer is on Unit 20 of the Anniversary Manual (Eight Lesson from Pre-Anniv manual): Omit R from -ar-, -er-, -ir-, -or-, and -ur- when the sound is ordinarily not stressed in speaking. That's why "large", "serve", "warm", "sort", etc. don't have the r. While "firm" is Brief Form in Pre-anniv, it is not in Anniv, but it's written the same way (f – e – m). With regards to the word "surprise", in both Pre-anniv, and Anniv is written the same way (s – e – p – r – ai – s). "Suppress" is written with the super- preffix. Here are some additional words with the r omitted: starch, margin, alarm, tarnish, argue, starve, gargle, cargo, clergy, traverse (and anything ending in -verse and the derivatives -versity, -verge, -vergent, -vergency, -versial, -versal), lantern, ordain, ornate, retort, extort, absorb, ward, worse, and all derivatives of firm (confirm, affirm, etc). We write in full the -vert and -version to avoid confusion: divert (using the reverse R), conversion.