6. No letters are to be doubled in short-hand unless some vowel comes be tween them.
7. When there are various ways of joining the flame letters together, which, in the present highly improved system of short-hand, is not nnfrequently the case, the learner should accustom him self to that which is the best, or most lineal, preserving as much as possible the full proportion and compact form of every letter.
It is to be observed, as another advan tage peculiar to this system, that here the strictest adherence to the common rules of punctuation may be observed. The period, or full stop, which is sup plied by a very small circle, „„ being the only exception.
The characters denoting the preposi tions and terminations being derived from the alphabet, are easily retained in the memory, and are of very extensive use to the brevity and legibility of short hand. Their respective powers and uses are distinctly delineated in the plate. It is sufficient to remark, that, in writing them, they ought always to be formed rather smaller than the rest of the letters, and should be placed sufficiently near the radical part of the word of which they constitute a part, that they may not be mistaken for separate and distinct words. Double prepositional cha racters joined together, as compre., onie. &c.
The plural of nouns, ending in s, ought to have their terminative letter written rather smaller than the other letters. A very little practice will accustom the writer to this method of denoting such plural nouns.
When the learner has acquired a per fect knowledge of so much of the art as we have already laid down, he may pro ceed to make himself acquainted with the following Roars OF 11111111VIATION; by which he will be enabled to follow the moat rapid speaker, and will soon become an expert stenographer.
1. The auxiliary verbs, the participle not, and the pronouns, being severally denoted by their first consonant, may be joined to one another; as can be, , will be, 'try , have not been.
2. Join the marks or letters in an un usual manner, in order to show that each particular mark denotes a word, and not a single letter; as by joining the letter is to the middle instead of the top of the letter t, the whole charater q, will re present the words in the ; so, also, the letter r, joined to the letter I, and drawn from the middle of the preceding con.
sonant, thus 1—, will denote the two words it is, or r, it was. This rule is very comprehensive. The writer will apply it as he finds it necessary or con venient so to do.
3. Derivative nouns, adjectives, and ad verbs, may be very conveniently express ed by points, differently placed, at the end of their last consonant. The substan tive point being placed immediately fol lowing the consonant, and in a direct line with it ; the adjective to have its point placed also a little lower down to the left of the substantive point ; and the proverb point to be placed, in the same manner, to the right of the substantive point; as, , forgetfulness ; 1 , forgetful ; , forgetfully.
4. Very common words, or such as have an immediate relation to the subject, and are therefore easily discoverable, may be denoted by their first consonant, or first vowel and consonant, with the substantive, adjective, or adverb point annexed. The adjectives, which usually accompany such substantives, may also be denoted by their first consonant, join ed to the substantive ; as humble see maw ; , human nature ; , christian rebgion, &c.
5. Place a clot at the point of concur rence of two consonant marks, to denote two substantives connected together by some preposition, which is omitted ; as , love of God, or light of the gospel ; , cause ofgravity, &c. Also, when an adjective precedes either of the sub stantives, they may all three be repre sented by their first consonants joined to gether, with the dot placed at the end of the first substantive ; as the CRS, great goodness of God.
6. The substantive point, placed before a single consonant mark, denotes that the substantive is to be repeated, with intervening preposition ; as, day after day ; from time to time, &c.