About posting and tagging

Just a general “how to” on posting new topics on the site.
1. On the home page, click on Add to Blog, located in the Blog EntryAll Messages box.
2. Type away your message.
3. Before you are ready to post, insert the tags. All messages should have one of these two tags: (a) general (for messages that are Gregg-related), or (b) anything goes (for messages that are not Gregg-related). You can insert other tags as well.  These two main tags are important, so that your document will show up in the appropriate box on the home page.
4. Post your message.

Following these simple instructions will help keep the site organized.


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13 comments Add yours
  1. Off the top of my head: The charts comparing editions and showing book covers. Very useful to new learners! The core manuals. Dictionaries. Penmanship exercises. Word lists if keyed to manuals.

    Beyond that, it's hard to say. Maybe books synched to the core manuals.

    A lot of advice has been repeated often, so I'm sure it will be repeated again and the new posts will be tagged, so no need to go through the old posts. Unfortunately, that will move the core manuals off the page. Ideal is still a "start here" page under tighter control.

    Also, I just tried the search on the group home page. Apparently we've never used the words "Anniversary" or "penmanship". Checking the sillies: Is the group set to public, so Google can read it?

  2. The Google search feature will take about a month to implement because their search engine needs to cache the contents of the group first, and that takes a while. I'm also eagerly awaiting for that to work.

  3. Check out the new "Learner's Corner" box. I went back and selected some good old posts with a lot of information. Actually, putting the tags was pretty simple, once I knew which messages to choose.

  4. Hi all,

    I'm not sure if I need to join this group to post questions(?), because I'm new, and I have really enjoyed reading all the discussions on the different versions of Gregg! I'm sorry to post my first entry on an existing thread, but the site won't let me start a new one, for some reason. Maybe the site has changed in the past year since the last thread was posted explaining how to do it? Or maybe I'm just going about it wrong. I'm not sure….

    Anyway, I just got Gregg SH Manual Simplified, 2nd ed. plus the Most-Used Words classifed by lesson. They're a great intro to GS. I eventually want to transition to Gregg Anniversary. So far I've been focusing on reading comprehension (and beginning to write). After reading some posts, it looks like the most amount of reading material out there is for GA.

    As I was wondering about the transition from GS to GA, I noticed some users said that when certain methods in GS get ingrained, they can kind of mess you up when you go to learn GA, specifically when writing. I'm not too worried about the memory load of GA because I'm a slow and steady learner, but I also don't want to spend too much time on GS if I'm going to have to unlearn some features.

    My main questions are:

    a) Should I just focus on reading comprehension in the Simplified manual and not do much writing until I get some Anniversary books?

    b) Is there a benefit to writing GS at all if I eventually want to learn GA and have that be the ultimate version that I adopt?

    I enjoy going slowly and re-reading passages in the Simplified manual, even though they're kind of dry and business-letter-like. I have made flash cards for my brief forms that have helped me quite a bit. My reading speed has been improving quite a bit as well. I've only done the first 7 lessons or so, but leafing thru the book, I see there are a lot of reading exercises, which is good. I'm in no hurry, as many people say you shouldn't rush. I agree with that.

    Any other thoughts on how to approach the Simplified Manual before I jump into the Anniversary course? I was thinking of starting with the GA Functional Method Vol. 1 and 2. That seems like a popular lesson plan. Thanks again for all the informative posts! They've helped me a great deal in learning about the rich history and various teaching methods of Gregg. By no means is Gregg a dying art! I think it will always be around as long as people put pen to paper.

  5. Welcome to the group. Only members can post new threads — that's why you couldn't do that before. But now that you're a member, feel free to post a new thread.

    Since you have only done 7 lessons of Simplified, I would recommend that you switch to Anniversary now, studying from the two-volume Gregg Shorthand Functional Method books. For example, in the first 7 lessons of Simplified, you should have learned 34 brief forms. In the same number of lessons in Anniversary, you would've learned 78 brief forms, more than double! Since you are a steady learner, it will not be a problem, as long as you stick through it. "Mastery before speed" should be your guiding principle: learn the lesson well and only go to a new lesson unless you can read the previous one with confidence. You can always read Simplified stuff, but learn the Anniversary (or pre-Anniv) theory as a basis. It will pay off. The "Most Used Word and Phrases" book for Anniversary is also online.

    Don't get me wrong — Simplified is a great series. But since your goal is to learn GA, go ahead and switch now.

  6. Thanks for the advice, mcbud. I was looking over the 1929 manual online after I posted my questions, and was struck by the different arrangement of the lessons. They definitely have you jump in with both feet. The Simplified manual seems a little more restrained in introducing new material. In the GA manual, they give you pretty much the whole alphabet up front, plus a dozen or so brief forms in each lesson. It's definitely accelerated compared to the GS manual, but since I intend to be as thorough as possible, I think I will benefit from learning the GA forms from the start as I go.

    One other thing I like about the 1929 manual is when giving examples of words, they show words whose outlines are very similar (like 'writ', 'rid', 'red', 'read', etc.) to show you the slight differences. The GS manual doesn't show these side by side comparisons (not more than a pair of words, usually). Also, I was reading the GS manual and was asking myself questions about outlines that would look the same (like 'raise' and 'raze') but the GS manual never mentioned how those would be distinguished. Having a linguistics background, I guess I just like how the 1929 manual addresses these questions from the very beginning so there's no confusion.

    I'll look for the "Most Used Words and Phrases" for Anniversary online as well. The .pdf that was posted showing all the published books is a great resource! Thanks to the person who put that together.

    One question: Is there enough reading and writing practice in the 1929 manual and the two-volume functional method books to help me become somewhat proficient until I'm ready to graduate to the speed building books? Maybe it will behoove me to shop for a set of books that I can get all at once that will really keep me busy and getting as much practice and speed as I can. Any suggestions on follow-up volumes?

  7. Thanks for the info, Chuck. I downloaded those .pdf's from Andrew's site. That's just what I was thinking of, because I like reading shorthand. I see what you mean about context and homonyms. It's one thing to have an isolated outline and deciding what it says, and it's another thing to see a word in a sentence that makes sense.

  8. The 1929 manual is a pedagogical shocker, I agree. It is good for reference, and when you want to refresh an old rule, but I wouldn't recommend it for learning, especially without a teacher! That's one of the reasons the functional method manuals were produced, and also why it seemed to you that Simplified was more "restrained", so to speak.

    The functional method manuals introduce the material at a manageable pace, and give you plenty of practice. You won't be writing anything until Assignment 21, and that is done by design. The authors want you to read a lot of shorthand before you put pen to paper. The reason: be fluent in reading, and when you write, everything will come out easier, because the outlines should be already in your brain.

    About the subtleties of the homonyms, there are marks that you will learn that can help you distinguish between similar vowels and consonants. However, be advised that not everything can be distinguished. In fact, most of these extra markings are eliminated in fast writing, and were almost gone starting with the second edition of the Simplified manual. So don't expect that you will be able to distinguish similar sounds in all cases. Shorthand transcription is based on context: it wouldn't make sense to say "I got a pay raze." (unless you really did something wrong at work!).

    As for reading from the books that you described, I believe there is plenty to read there. However, if you want to add even more reading material, get "Gregg Speed Studies, Third Edition." It is a little red book, printed in 1941-42, 442 pages, and the edition is clearly stated on the cover. Do not get the second edition (this one is also a red book, but it reads "Gregg Speed Studies, Anniversary Edition" on the cover. The speed studies are correlated with the lessons in the manual, and provide even more reading material. Reading and practice material for Anniversary is abundant, and extremely varied. Another one that you can browse online from Andrew's site is Fundamental Drills of Gregg Shorthand, also correlated with the lessons of the manual, and like I said before, the 5,000 outline book, which is the Anniversary version of the "Most Used Words and Phrases" that you have in Simplified. That should keep you busy for some time.

    Concentrate on those books for now, and once you finish your initial study, we can recommend books to get you going further.

    I hope this helps.

    Chuck

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