Usage of word families in Gregg Simplified

On lesson 39 in the Gregg Shorthand Manual Simplified (2nd Ed), section 363, the book describes how you can abbreviate by leaving off word endings, such as omitting “oo d” at the end of attitude or “a t” at the end of duplicate. Examples are given for words ending in -use, -titude, -cate, and -gate.
How does this differ from a formal abbreviation of word endings? From the description, it appears that this rule is intended to be used at the discretion of the writer, which leaves me confused as to how often and which words to use it on. Is it one of those things you just get a feel for? Is it something that gets used regularly?
I guess it surprised me because so much of Gregg Simplified seems very formal and specific. I did have a lot of issues with the omission of minor vowels for awhile because it seems so arbitrary, but I do seem to be getting a handle on that.

(by Erik for group greggshorthand)


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4 comments Add yours
  1. Interesting. It sounds like this rule adds back some of the principles that were dropped in the transition from Anniversary to Simplified. But on an optional, "if you find it useful" basis. Or am I mistaken?

  2. This is a great question. The main difference between the word families and the word endings is one of frequency. The suffixes that are classified as word endings were selected for presentation as such because they are more frequent. The other difference between families and endings is in the construction of the outline. Word families are always abbreviated by eliminating the last part of the word, whereas word endings can be abbreviated by using part of the ending, either as a joined or disjoined stroke. In Simplified, a great number of the word endings were eliminated, and outlines for a large number words that were written according to the abbreviating principle were redone and reclassified as families. You won't see much difference between those two kinds of abbreviations.

    The rule for word families is not left to the discretion of the writer. There are families that should be memorized in Simplified and those are listed in the manual. In addition, other families include -ivorous, and -iferous. Once you are familiar with Simplified and can write easily, you are welcome to abbreviate even more as long as you can transcribe.

  3. The presentation of the rule in the Simplified manual is not very clear. It certainly gives the impression that it is done haphazardly, but the families are pretty much set in the manual and if one examines the dictionary carefully.

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