1.  Only sounds are represented in Gregg Shorthand—all silent letters are omitted.  Thus, one does not write Thron but tron; not hohl but hol; not Carl but karl; not Rock but rok; not Fall but fal (short A); not Ruhm but rum; and so on. Double consonants are not written except where the belong to different syllables and are therefore sounded separately.  One L is written in Fallen and one P in Lippe, but two R's are represented in verrechnen.

     2.  It is not necessary to show the majority of the inflexions of adjectives, verbs, etc.  The following rules should be carefully noted:
     (a) Adjectives having a final E in their simple form lose this letter.  All adjectives remain uninflected, retaining their predicative form.

Im schön Garten,
     not Im schönen Garten
leis,
     not leise
Ein lei Geräusch,
     not Ein leises Geräusch

     (b) Singular nouns ending in E lose this letter.  Nouns in the singular are inflected only for the genitive.  Plural nouns are written in full, but the (additional) dative N is omitted.

Der frei Gedank.
Den frei Gedank.
Des frei Gedanks.
Dem frei Gedank.
Schön Blumen.
In den Felder.

     (c) In verbs a final E is omitted except when it occurs in the third person of the imperfect indicative or subjunctive.

Ich geh.  Ich konnt.  Er kaufte (in full).  Er hörte (in full).

     (d) The ending EN or N is always omitted.

     3.  The consonants are nearly all arranged in pairs, according to their affinity of sound, and are distinguished by a difference in length.

     (a) The curves are formed from an elliptical figure:

     (b) These strokes are written forward; the T and D upward from the line of writing.

     (c) The G is always the G in words such as gehen, never the G in foreign words such as Genie (The character for this G will be given later).  G at the end of words and syllables is sometimes pronounced CH, as in bröckelig, but the stroke as given at the head of this paragraph is always used.

     (d) Similarly, D at the end of words is sometimes pronounced T, but D is written notwithstanding.  Tod is an example.

     (e) The H dot is placed just above the vowel which immediately follows.

     4.  The vowels are represented by the circle (in two sizes, large and small) and by hooks.  They are written into the shorthand form at the point where they occur in the spoken word.

5.  A Vowel Markings

     (a) The large circle represents the vowel sound (the A) in Kamm; with a light dot underneath, it represents the vowel A in kam, the AH in Mahl, or the AA in Aal; with a short dash, it represents the Ä in käme, the EE in leer, the EH in kehren, or the E in dem.

     (b) The dots and dashes are seldom used; they become necessary occasionally in isolated or unfamiliar words.

6.  E Vowel Markings

     The small circle has four values:  Standing alone it represents the I in nimm; with a light dot, the E in denn or the Ä in fällig; with a short dash, the IE in Kiel; with a short light horizontal line struck over it, it represents the Ü in Rügen and Müller.

     The following are the rules to be observed for the writing of the circles:

(a)

     Inside curves standing alone or joined to straight strokes without forming an angle.

(b)

     Between two reverse curves the circle is turned on the back of the first curve.

(c)

     When joined to straight strokes (and when coming between two straight strokes in the same line) the circle is written in the direction of movement of the hands of the clock.

(d)

     When two characters join with an angle, the circle is written outside the angle.

8. Word-Signs

     A large proportion of all written and spoken language is made up of a comparatively few words. The above forms, which are termed "word-signs," should be committed thoroughly to memory.

9. Phrasing

     Simple words when they form natural grammatical phrases should be joined, but awkward joinings must be carefully avoided.  The above are a few examples.

     10.  Punctuation should be given proper attention.  The period is expressed by  , the end of a paragraph by , the dash by , the hyphen by (struck upwards), and the mark of interrogation by .
     Parentheses are expressed by the ordinary marks with short dashes struck through them:
     Other punctuation marks are written in the usual way.

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