Book for learning Simplified?

I’m trying to teach myself Simplified. I borrowed this book from my local library and while it was helpful, it was made a bit more difficult because there were no answer keys. I’ve read somewhere that’s because it’s a reprint and that if I were to find an original it would have the keys. Does anyone know if this is true? And if so, where I might could get it from for a fair price? Thanks in advance.


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  1. I’m sure Carlos will chime in here, but in my opinion the Functional Method for Anni or Simplified are the best method for at-home, do-it-yourself learning with shorthand. It has the transcription for most of the shorthand and emphasizes the notion that the key to learning to write shorthand starts with being able to read it.

    Here’s a link to a discussion about these books:

    https://gregg-shorthand.com/2009/03/01/simplified-functional-method-first-or/

  2. That's not why that particular book does not have a key.

    The Simplified, DJS, and S90 manuals were published in three different versions: two high school versions (regular manual and functional method manual) and one college version (Gregg Shorthand for Colleges, Vol. 1). The high school regular manual and the college version manuals did not have a key within the book because it was published in a separate booklet. In contrast, the functional method (FM) manual contained a partial key, as students were supposed to only read shorthand (not write anything) until they reached Assignment 21, so the authors decided to provide the key within the book. However, the key in the functional method manual does not cover all lessons; the last lessons were omitted, as the students were supposed to be able to read all the shorthand without any difficulty.

    The Centennial manuals (high school and college) contain the key within the books.

    To complicate the picture a little bit, the Simplified and DJS manuals had two editions, so there were a total of 6 different Simplified (or DJS) manuals that could be used in the US. (Add then the UK, Canadian, and Australian editions, and the picture gets more complicated!)

    So which manual should you get? I agree with Aaron in that the FM manual is the best choice because it has the key right inside the book. Also, it doesn't matter if you get the first or second edition — the lessons are basically the same (save the presentation of vowel markings in the first edition). The manual that you borrowed from the library is the second edition of the high school regular manual. If you like it, you can also access the transcript in this post.

    Where can you get it at a fair price? eBay is usually your best bet, as you can see exactly what you are bidding on, and the prices are for the most part good. However, you can also try Abebooks or Amazon.

    Lastly, this post contains a document with pictures of covers of the most common Gregg manuals. If you go to the Simplified section of the document, you will be able to identify the covers of the different Simplified manuals.

    I hope this helps.

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