Unpacking after my recent move, I discovered I have two copies of Margaret Hunter's 1919 book. One copy is in pristine condition, the other was clearly used by either a techer or a devout student as phrasing opportunities which were not utilized are circled with the appropriate phrase written in the margin.
For instance, page 37: "The list" and "which we enclose" and "on hand" are encircled. Page 85: "year round", "that will", etc. You get the idea.
Separately, I was amused when reading some of the business letters to recognize that "PE" written above an "SN" was an extension of the disjoined prefix "tr" principle - Peterson.
I'd heartily recommend anyone learning Gregg make an attempt to obtain the Phrase Book for their particular version. In the intro to the 1902 Manual Dr. Gregg announces one of the reasons for the revision was to introduce phrasing much earlier as if a student learns to write words individually it will increase his difficulty in learning proper phrasing. Which is really why it seemed so odd to me that in the DJS Manual intro reference is made to the elimination of phrases which, although taught, research and input from teachers showed that very few of the learned phrases were actually applied to real life office dictation by practitioners.
Anyone who's into Anniversary or pre-Anniversary should find a copy of GRiGS if it's not already in his or her library. The articles and letters are actually entertaining. Could it be that business letters were more lively a century ago?
Labels: general