blogs - 2020 - february 2 distinguishing phrases 2 5 winter lights · 2020. 2. 24. · winter...

Images & Text © Beryl L Pratt www.long-live-pitmans-shorthand-reading.org.uk

2020 February p1 A of 15Blog Archive Pitman’s New Era Shorthand


2020 February p1 B of 15Blog Archive Pitman’s New Era Shorthand

2 Distinguishing Phrases 2

5 Winter Lights

9 Diary Day 6 - Richmond

12 Audio Typing

PDF Date: 24 February 2020

Images & Text © Beryl L Pratt

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Blogs - 2020 - February

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Distinguishing Phrases 2

These phrases are distinguished byinserting a vowel in one of the pair and notin the other. As long as you are consistentin how the pairs are written, the onewithout a vowel will always be read backcorrectly. Some phrases can bedistinguished by altering the position, suchas “ of those, of this, of these”, so those donot need vowels. With the pair “at last, atleast” it is prudent to give both a vowel. Avowel should always be included for extraclarity in any phrase if felt necessary,especially if the shorthand is less than*

neat, but having a definite* scheme asabove will save having to do that everytime. In the last paragraph are someexamples where a different method is used,or it is not phrased.

* "definite" Insert the last vowel, and thediphthong in "defined" as they are similarin outline and meaning

* "less than" Downward L in order to jointhis phrase


I paid a lot of money for those new clothesand shoes.

He has waited a very long time for this jobopportunity.

She has been saving her money all year forthese presents.

We went to those offices at the end of lastmonth* for a meeting.

I have been invited to this meeting to takenotes of the discussions.

She confirmed that she came to thesemeetings at head office.

I think I can probably finish the reportwithout those files.

We will not be able to work without thisvery important information.

She was glad to be living without thesedifficulties with the transport.

* Omission phrase "las(t) month"






We asked when they intended to go butthey did not answer us.

I asked when they were going to give tothe school and they said probablytomorrow.

Give that file to me and send that letter tohim.

There is a letter for me and a parcel for himon the table.

Please tell me what is on the agenda forthe meeting this morning.

They said they would tell him what to dothat afternoon.


Finally* we can say that we have beensuccessful in this project.

I think we can see that we need to revisethe figures in the report.

It is great to know you can say that yougained top marks in the exam.

I think you can see that you might* haveto talk to them about it.

I wonder if we are by any means going tobe successful in this.

We are by no means going to get this doneon time.

His comments at the meeting this morningwere definitely for the record.

These conversations with the staff werestrictly off the record*.

* "Finally" "officially" Always insert the firstvowel, as the outlines are similar

* "you might" Not phrased, whereas "youmay" is phrased

* "off the record" Because of the seriousconsequences if these two are nottranscribed correctly, a non-theorysuggestion is to intersect off the/record (asit occurs less frequently) so that it cannotbe misread






It is most* important to get all the factsand names correct.

It seems important to let them know weare waiting for them to reply.

It is most* likely that we will be back quitelate this evening.

It seems likely that we will be doing thatjob for them after all.

It is most* probable that they will returnhere tomorrow afternoon.

It seems probable that she will phone uswith the news quite soon.

It seems to me* that we should write thema formal letter of complaint.

It seems to him* to have been a very longday at the office.

* "most" Omits the T in all these phrases

* Omission phrases "it seems (to) me" "itseems (to) him"


The experiences described in my recentbook are all mine.

All the photos and drawings in my newbook are my own.

The house is mine and the car is also mine.

The opinions contained in my latest reportare entirely my own.

It is in many ways a relief that they did notcome here yesterday.

I am in my own way very happy to beliving here.


We have at least completed half of thefinancial report.

He has at last finished writing his bookabout his travels.

We have at least written down somethingfrom that fast speaker.

You are at last able to write reasonably fastshorthand.

At last we arrived at the office with at leastan hour to spare.






We know that in another case things weremore difficult.

We found that in neither case did they sayanything.

I do not know of another case where thishas happened.

We have not heard of any other* casewhere this has happened.

I don’t think there is another way to getthis done satisfactorily.

I don’t think there is any other way* to getthis important job finished. (726 words)

* Omission phrase "any oth(er)"

Winter Lights

In January we went to see the WinterLights festival in Canary Wharf in EastLondon. Canary Wharf is the central area ofthe Isle of Dogs, a peninsula on the bend ofthe River Thames just opposite Greenwich.It is London’s main financial area, and theold Docklands is now mostly* covered intall office buildings. Imports and exportsare now of the digital monetary kind. Manyof the original dock waterways are

preserved, and these stretches of watergive life and a freshness to what wouldotherwise be quite a barren world ofbuildings and hard landscaping*.

* "mostly" Omits the T

* "landscaping" It is the L stroke that isabove the line, so it does not matter wherethe P stroke ends up





Winter Lights

There are several little greens* and sitting*areas, and a larger central parkimmediately over the station entrances,with tall trees and water features.Everything is very smart and wellmaintained. A few of the old warehousesremain, such as the one that houses theMuseum of London Docklands, and somepieces of the old equipment are preserved,most noticeably the giant waterside cranes.The combination of acres of windows andthe rippling water is quite interesting, as itprevents the buildings from appearing darkand looming. Their reflections* make onefeel that if the ripples travelled upwards,the whole building would shimmer anddisappear. To get a truly* open view, oneonly has to walk a short distance to the

River Thames, which is wider here than inthe city, and is much brighter and morelively, being a living river and not capturedlike the docklands waters.

* "greens" Insert the vowel, as it could bemisread as "grounds" in this context

* "sitting" "seating" Insert the vowel, todifferentiate

* "reflections" "refractions" Insert thevowel after the FL stroke, as these aresimilar in outline and meaning; similarlywith all the derivatives

* "truly" "utterly" Insert the first vowel, asthese are similar in outline and meaning

Winter Lights

The Winter Lights installations were spreadaround the various pedestrian areas, andguides were handing out maps showing thelocations and names of each display. Wesaw it all on two visits, so that we did not*have to walk the entire area in one go.Most of the lights were moving andchanging in some way or other, and eachone entirely different from the next. Thefirst place we went to was the Crossrailbuilding roof garden, in order to* get clear

photos before it became more crowded. Allthe trees and plants were illuminated byuplighters in bright neon colours, withsoundtracks at various points of birds,monkeys and other jungle sounds.

* "We did not" Not phrase, to differentiatethis from "we do not"

* Omission phrase "in ord(er to)





Winter Lights

Down by the waterside we came across theMountain of Light, a pyramid shapedstructure lit up in constantly changingcolours. It was four metres high, so notquite as much of a mountain as the websiteillustration appeared. As people gathered infront of it posing for their selfies, theycreated a shadow* show of their own, asthey stood out black against the coloursbehind them. A miniature version would be

great to have on my desk at home,although I would probably always beglancing at it rather than getting on withwork on the screen. It would be awonderful night light, to send one to sleepwith its gradually changing subdued pastelcolours.

* "shadow" Insert the second vowel, as it issimilar to "shade"

Winter Lights

Another very innovative item was arepresentation of thunderclouds*. Thisconsisted of several bubble machines thatproduced huge piles of foam in one of thelarge courtyards. As darkness fell, whitelights underneath were flashing on and offto represent clouds being lit up by lightning,with a soundtrack of loud thunder rumblesand cracks. It had a raised walkwaythrough the middle for visitors toexperience it from above. It was veryrealistic in the dark, as it was away fromthe other noisy places, and I did feel I waswalking over a storm. I do enjoy a goodthunderstorm in real life*, the more

dramatic the better, and this did a good jobof reproducing that experience. However,when we arrived on our second visit, whileit was still daylight, it did resemble abubble bath wildly out of control, but weknew that darkness would transform theexperience. This was a brilliant idea thatonly required simple materials andconstruction.

* "thunderclouds" The dictionary gives thisas one outline but that makes the outlinedescend two lines downwards.

* Omission phrase "rea(l) life"





Winter Lights

My outright favourite was the projection*called Aquatics, not particularly colourfulbut mesmerising nonetheless. It consistedof computer generated creatures, made ofsimple lines and shapes, floating andswimming around like prehistoric plankton,projected onto a long low concrete wall justabove a length of watercourse between thebuildings. There was an eerie, haunting,echoing soundtrack that perfectly suitedthe shifting scene before our eyes. It wasrather like a film of almost transparentplankton in the ocean darkness, with onlytheir illuminated outlines visible. It wouldbe great to have this on my computerscreen. I could* watch my pet planktoncritters* and primordial worms swimmingabout looking for morsels and fleeingperceived dangers, learning all thebehaviour and character traits that wouldkeep them and their descendants alive, the

fish and dinosaurs that would one day rulethe world from above. Absolutely no workwould get done, because I would mostcertainly* have to keep an eye on them, incase they were progressing too much* intheir intelligence and taking over the worldbefore we are ready to give it up.

* "projection" Optional contraction

* "I could" Not phrased, to preventmisreading as "I can"

* "critters" Insert the first vowel, compare"creators" below

* Omission phrase "mos(t) certainly"

* "too much" Includes the M stroke, inorder to join the phrase





Winter Lights

In the central Jubilee Park there is a longnarrow stream, cascading gently through awaist-high rock garden. This wasilluminated by underwater neon lights, andthe entire surface was covered in floatingwhite plastic balls, looking like a carpet ofgiant pearls as they diffused the patches oflight underneath them. People were takingthe balls and throwing them across thewater. There was a friendly atmosphere ofinnocent fun. I wondered whether thecreator* had envisaged that happening, butit was a real pleasure to watch everyone’sdelight at being able to engage in aharmless, silly communal activity, just for

the fun of it. This must have been the*simplest, lowest cost item of them all, justlights and thousands of balls, but the ideais priceless. Having taken photos and videoof it all, we finally tore ourselves away, andwe will have to relive it on the computerscreen, but we were hoping of course thatnext year will bring an equally impressivearray of new illuminations. (1002 words)

* "creator" Insert the diphone, compare"critter" above

* Omission phrase "must (have) been"

Diary Day 6 - Richmond

The weathermen have been warning us fora week that storm Ciara* was approachingthe UK, bringing gale force winds, stormy*seas, heavy rain and flooding. All this wasexpected to arrive on the Sunday, but theSaturday before was totally calm, dry andsunny*. As we knew that travelling aboutwas going to be restricted for a while, wedecided to make the most of the goodweather and go to Richmond in the southwest of London, and take some walks alongthe river paths.

* "Ciara" Pronounced Keera

* "stormy" Insert the final vowel, as anoriginal noun can also be used adjectivallye.g. storm seas, stormy seas

* "sunny" Always insert the vowels in"sun/snow/sunny/snowy"





Diary Day 6 - RichmondOur journey there was not asstraightforward as it normally is. AtWaterloo Station we discovered that trainsto that area were not available due to linemaintenance work and so we went insteadto Kingston which is further south andupriver. From there we took the bus toRichmond, which we thought would bequite a short journey. It turned out to beone of those bus routes that goes “allround the houses”, taking detours from themain road in order to* serve the residentialareas. So we settled down for our mysterytour, seeing the back roads of the suburbsand villages. Eventually we arrived atRichmond and walked to the riverside areathat is adjacent to the high street. We wentdown Water Lane, a granite cobbled road

that goes downhill and directly into the river,clearly a place for hauling boats out of thewater. This part of the Thames is verydifferent from its appearance in centralLondon. The river is narrower, the water isclearer and more attractive, and thesurroundings are pleasantly* rural, with lots*of riverside parks and trees. The main roadfrom the town goes over the eighteenth*century stone bridge and below are small boathuts, and pleasure rowing boats for hire.* Omission phrase "in ord(er to)"* "pleasantly" "pleasingly" Insert the firstvowel, as these are similar in outline andmeaning* "lots" "masses" Insert the first vowel, asthese are similar in outline and meaning* "eighteenth" Essential to insert the vowel todifferentiate from "tenth"


To one side of the bridge is a stepped areawith strips of grass and benches, wherevisitors can sit with a drink and snack, andlook at the river scene. Today there were*lots* of people about enjoying the last bitof warmth and sun for a while. The birdsalso find it a good place to gather, crowdsof pigeons, seagulls and a fair number ofswans. Every piece of bread throwntowards the river resulted in the suddenscreeching and diving of the gulls. A coupleof brave ones were standing on the groundbehind the pigeons, in order to be* as nearas they dare, ready for when the next piececomes. Someone was holding a slice of

bread firmly in his fist, and two boldpigeons were sitting on his arms eating asfast as they could, at the expense of theirfriends milling about on the ground directlybelow. The swans did not come out of thewater, as it was rather too crowded forthem.

* Omission phrases "threre (w)ere" "inord(er to) be" The short form "be" remainson the line, as the word "to" is part of theomission

* "lots" "masses" Insert the vowel as theseare similar in outline and meaning






We then walked northwards along the riverpath. We came to the railway bridge, whichwas empty and quiet, as it was here thatthe line maintenance work was going on,the cause of our cancelled trains. On thebridge was a small crane and a group ofworkmen in dayglo orange jackets. Thenext bridge close by is Twickenham Bridgefor road traffic. A ten* minute walk pastthat brought us to Richmond Lock, a largeiron structure over the river, with sluice

gates held aloft. This lock is used toregulate the river levels upriver, so that thewater is never lower than half tide level,keeping the river navigable at all states ofthe tide. The steps and high levelfootbridge were closed for maintenance, sowe walked back to Richmond.

* "ten" Insert the vowel to differentiatefrom "eighteen"


We passed under the stone bridge andwalked to Terrace Gardens on the slope ofRichmond Hill, and climbed the zigzag*paths that lead up to Terrace Walk. Thereis a magnificent view over the countryside,with the silver* river disappearing into thedistance. As the view faces south west, thesunsets here must be* a delight to watch,especially with the colourful sky reflected inthe broad bends of the river. In fact* anytype of sky and weather would beinteresting, and the changing colours of thecountryside as the seasons progress.However, with the weekend’s expectedstorm, this viewing area would certainly beempty tomorrow, with the downpours, thegusts tossing the trees about, and the windhowling and roaring. We descended the hill

again and took the bus the short distanceback to the station in the centre of town,and then our various trains towards home,where we intended to stay until the twodays of stormy* weather passed. (770words)

* "zigzag" An initial Zee sound always usesthe stroke, but not necessarily within theoutline

* "silver" "sulphur" Always insert the firstvowel for clarity

* Omission phrases "mus(t) be" "In (f)act"

* "stormy" Insert the final vowel, as "stormweather" would also make sense





Audio Typing

If you are intending to use your shorthandin an office environment, you may find thatbeing able to do audio typing is also useful.This is the skill of typing from a recording ina continuous manner. This is what atranscriptionist* does, but audio typing canbe done for other purposes as well, such asdictating material for a book, report, lettersor diary to your computer or phone, thentyping it out from the sound file later on. Itcould be your own material or working for

someone else. You could record yourselfreading a passage of shorthand out loud,then practise audio typing of that back intotext, thus getting two types of training onone item. Saving the recordings provides astock of dictation material for furthershorthand practice.

* "transcriptionist" Omits the first N.Upward S stroke out of necessity, a veryfew outlines do this.

Audio Typing

As the speaking speed will probably befaster than you can type, the recording hasto be paused constantly so that your typingcan catch up. You control the audio sourcewith a foot pedal which has large keys forplay and rewind, and possibly other keysand functions that can be programmed in.Firstly, what you don’t do is listen to asentence, stop the recording, type theremembered sentence and then restart therecording. The correct method is to playand type at the same time, but take thefoot off the pedal after just a few words,then when you are nearly caught up

resume the playback. This way you neverstop typing, and the recording is effectivelyslowed down by introducing little pauses.The whole operation is smooth andcontinuous and nothing needs to beremembered. Coordination between ears,fingers and foot very soon takes over and itbecomes easy to stop between words. It islike chasing your hat in the wind, just asyou get to it, it takes off again and you areon the move all the time. When therecording comes to an end, you finallycatch up with your hat.





Audio Typing

I use the Express Scribe programme whichcan be operated on screen with a mouse,or via keyboard hotkeys, or with a footpedal. It also has a voice speed slider. Ihave found that it is important to have aresting position on the foot pedal so thatthe front of the foot does not have to hover

during pauses, which can be tiring or evencramping. My USB pedal has a central restarea and side keys for play and rewind. Aquick tap on the rewind jumps it back acouple of seconds, and holding it downrewinds until released.

Audio Typing

When I first learned audio typing in college,we used manual typewriters and cassettetapes. We had stethoscope headsets withsponge blobs to put over the ends toprevent the end points from falling out ofthe ea*rs. When I started work, it wasmostly typing from handwritten pages, anda little shorthand and audio. Then themanagement decided it would be moreefficient for all the clerical staff to dictatetheir letters as far as possible*. This was to

do away with the slow laborious writing outof their drafts and avoid* the delay insending their pages to the typing room viathe internal courier system.

* "mostly" Omits the lightly-sounded T

* Omission phrase "as far as poss(ible)"

* "avoid" "evade" Insert the second vowel,as these are similar in outline and meaning





Audio Typing

A bank of four recording machines wasinstalled in our room, which used six inchflexible magnetic disks. The clerical workerdialled up the machine on the internalphone system* and used various singlenumbers to pause, rewind and play back,and also, at the end of each letter, spike ahole in the paper strip at the front of themachine, to show where each letter ended.

When they put their phone down, a greenlight would flash. We would listen to gettheir name, write it on the slip, thread theslip through the slits in the centre of thedisk and put it in a rack, then insert a blankdisk.

* This was called the PAX system = PrivateAutomatic Exchange

Audio Typing

We all had table top transcription*machines, with a pointer to show progressalong the paper strip which was printedwith lines one minute apart, with the spikeholes showing the position and length ofeach letter. As we were somewhat isolatedfrom the main offices, it was nice to heartheir voices. It brought a personal touch toour work with the friendly greeting of “Avery good morning to you all, this is JohnJones Customer Services.” We all had ourfavourites, with clear confident speakingand not bored or droning, cheery but alsobusinesslike and well organised. Seniormanagement continued with theirshorthand typists, so that they coulddictate, change their minds, revise andhave it read back to them, before anytyping took place. This was the jam in the

sandwich for us shorthanders*, as it meanttwo hours in a quiet office, writing fairlyslowly, with all the hesitations and revisions,before returning to the noisy typing pool*.Often their work was confidential so it couldnot be sent to the disks and of course itwas done and returned by handimmediately without joining the queue ofwork or sitting in the out-tray.

* "transcription" Omits the first N, todistinguish it from "description"

* "shorthanders" The D sound is included inthe doubling. A thickened stroke would be

"ing-ger"

* "typing pool" A large room where all thetypists worked, separate from other offices





Audio Typing

It was quite a task to get everyone todictate in the exact typing order, as wewere using electric typewriters, before thedays of moving text around on a computerscreen. We designed a little form that theycould add notes to and keep before themwhile speaking, to help them rememberwhat to do next, nowadays called a cribsheet. It was also fun washing the disksnow and then*, which would becomegrubby with finger grease, and see themdrying off on the rack on the window sill

like a row of dinner plates. Later on Iworked with a similar phone based systemthat used mini cassettes. The cassettes hada reusable flock side strip on which to writethe author’s name with a stylus. Thisflattened the fibres into a darker colour andit could be reset with a slider which combedit clear again. There was also a noisymagnetic plate to drag the completedcassette over to wipe the contents.

* Omission phrase "now (and) then"

Audio Typing

I hope* this brief* peek* into the past willenable you to appreciate your present easeof typing on a screen, with the generouslyforgiving backspace key to correct mistakesin an instant, and the ability to save it allfor future editing and record keeping. Ifyou are on a real typewriter perchance,then you have the incentive and necessityto get everything right first time and not letthe fingers lapse into complacency, and sogain an extremely valuable advantage outof that older method of creating pages oftext. There is only one warning that isnecessary, and that is to never, never,never, and once again* never, use a footpedal on practice dictations to allow theshorthand writing to catch up. You don’twant the hardware for the new skill of

audio typing to undermine and prevent theattainment of shorthand speed. All theshorthand dictation downloads for theseblogs can be used for audio practice so youare never without learning material. (1193words)

* Omission phrase "I (h)ope" "wu(n)s again"

* "brief" Generally advisable to insert thevowel, so it is not misread as "number of "

* "peek" This spelling means a look orglance into. "Peak" is the highest part ofsomething such as a mountain, ability orcareer. "pique" means slight annoyance,

"to pique" means to excite interest orcuriosity

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