As I mentioned before, among the UK versions of the Gregg Simplified manual, a third edition was published by McGraw-Hill in the UK in 1991 authored by Gerard O'Kennedy. The third edition is not merely a manual with new practice material. It is a revision of the system which incorporates elements from DJS and S90. In this post, I present the differences with the regular Simplified manual.
The book's preface exposes the motivation for the revision of the manual: "The present edition, adapted to
suit Irish and United Kingdom conditions and requirements, retains the
popular innovations introduced in the Simplified Manual and also
incorporates many of the changes in the Gregg Shorthand, Diamond
Jubilee Series and in Gregg Shorthand Series 90." In the acknowledgment, the author thanked "the staff of both second and third level schools and
colleges for their useful suggestions before and during the preparation
of the book, and in particular I owe a special word of thanks to Mr.
Sean og Sheehey, School of Business Studies, Regional Technical College,
Tralee, County Kerry for the great and continuing interest he took in
the book and the help he gave."
Below are some of the notable changes from the original Simplified editions.
1. Manual and Lessons
- This is the book cover:
-
The theory is presented in 38 lessons: seven chapters of six lessons
each (except Chapter 7). There are no review lessons so all lessons are
theory (including the sixth lesson of every chapter).
- The manual has an accompanying workbook as in the regular manuals.
-
All reading/writing practice is composed of sentences or groups of
sentences. Letters are few and far in between. There are no articles or
short-subject selections.
- The key is included in the back of the book.
- Penmanship is legible but not very artistic. I'm including a small sample here:
2. Writing and Rule Changes
- The o before r and l is not turned to the side, adopting the DJS/S90 standard.
- Pent/Jent blend was eliminated (as in DJS/S90).
- The h dot to represent the wh- sound is eliminated (as in S90). So words like "white" do not need the dot anymore.
- Months of the year: April, June, and July are written in full. November is written n-o-v.
- Geographical name changes. Countries/cities in Europe are written in abbreviated form and some outlines have been modified, such as Scotland
(right s-k-t), Germany (j-e-r), Belgium (b-e-l-j), Belfast (b-e-l-f or
b-l-f-a-right s-t, more than likely a plate writer oversight), Glasgow (g-l-a-left s), Denmark (written in full, without
the dn blend), Copenhagen (h dot omitted), Luxembourg (l-oo hook-x), Netherlands
(r omitted), Norway (o not joined to r), Amsterdam (a-m-left s-t-rd-m), Russia
(written with ia circle), Spain (a circle omitted), Stockholm (right s-t-o hook-k-l-m),
and Banbridge (b-a-n-b).
- Weights and measures: After numbers, meters is abbreviated m-e-t-left s and kilometers as k-right s.
- The rule for omission of t from -kt/-st was eliminated (as in DJS/S90).
- The rule for disjoined st for -ist/-est was eliminated (as in DJS/S90).
- The rule for disjoined r for -er/-or was eliminated (as in DJS/S90).
- The rule for expressing mem with the men blend was eliminated, so it is written m-e-m (as in DJS/S90).
- Ye/ya now expressed by the e and a circles, respectively (as in DJS/S90).
3. Word Beginnings
- Agr-/Aggr-: expressed by a disjoined loop (as in Anniversary).
- After-: eliminated
- Incl-: eliminated
- Post-: eliminated
- Pro-: eliminated
- Ship-: eliminated
- Short-: eliminated
- Supr-: eliminated, but Super- was retained as disjoined right s.
- Although per- is normally written as pr-, per in the word "period" is written in full (probably an oversight/error of the plate writer).
4. Word Endings
- ally: eliminated
- borough: joined b (as in -burg)
- ify: eliminated
- less: eliminated
- pose: eliminated
- position: eliminated
- sume: eliminated
- sumption: eliminated
- sure: sh-oo hook (like Anniversary)
- ville: eliminated
5. Phrases
- Away - disjoined w dash (for example, ran away: r-a-n-disjoined w dash).
- Is is not/It was not - Blend was eliminated, so those phrases are now written as two separate outlines (for example, t-left s n).
- Isn't/Wasn't - written without the apostrophe
- Department - disjoined d (as in Anniversary)
- Secretary - joined s-e-k
- Understand/understood/misunder- eliminated
6. Brief forms
- Eliminated: agent,
all, allow, among, automobile, been, belief, believe, big, bill, body, circle,
conclude, conclusion, date, desire, did, else, enable, end, enough, etc., go,
gone, got, he, house, individual, keep, let, letter, like, likewise, long, market,
matter, merchandise, merchant, most, nevertheless, office, otherwise, please, prosecute,
purchase, railroad, remit, remittance, ship, side, stand, then, unable, upon,
use, want, weak, week, wonder, write
- Added: behind
(b-ai), change (ch-j), circular (left s-e-r-k), committee (k-e-t-e), course
(k-r-left s), employ (m-p-l), executive (e-right s-e-k-v), first (f-e-right s),
friend (f-r blended), gentlemen (j-mn), influence (n-f), industry (nd blend-s),
manufacture (men blend-f), Ms (as must, m-left s), people (p-e-p), perfect
(p-r-f), prepare (p-r-e-p), record (r-k-d), request (r-k-e-right s-t), require
(r-k-ai), responsible (r-left s-p), secretary (left s-e-k-r-e), short (sh-t), small
(right s-m-o hook), sure (sh-oo hook), system (ses blend)
- Changed: suggest (s-oo hook-g), always (written without the o-hook –
l blend), remember (r-e-m-e-m), satisfy/satisfactory (right s-a-t-i-left s), usual
(e-oo hook-sh), object (o hook-b-k), throughout (under th-r-a-oo hook)
- Moved because of a rule change: how (written without h dot according to rule), why (no h dot
rule), year (ye written as e), yet (ye written as e), represent (it is now a
brief form, not sure why because it is just a derivative), etc (now an
abbreviated word)
7. Abbreviated Words
- Eliminated: -use, -cate
- Added: approximate
(a-p-r-o hook-x), statistics (right s-t-a-t-left s), elaborate (e-l-a-b),
develop (dev blend-l), original (o hook-r-e-j), popular (p-o hook-p), et cetera
(e-t-left s), cooperate (k-o hook-o hook-p)
- Changed: memorandum (m-e-m-o hook)
- The word family -gate is not mentioned in the text but it is abbreviated in the plates with a g (as in regular Simplified).
- The word families -ology and -ntic are not mentioned in the text, and no examples are presented in the plates either.
8. Compound Words
- Changed: notwithstanding (written with the final d), anybody (e-n-e-b-o-d-e)
- "Everybody" is written abbreviated (e-v-b-o).
These are the major changes that I have picked up from my review. It is interesting that even though this edition came after the Centennial edition was published, there is no reference to Centennial at all in this book.
Is this edition an improvement over the regular Simplified manual? I would like to read your comments.
Labels: general, simplified
