Long Live Pitman's Shorthand! Lessons 

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Downloads Exercises

Facility Drill PDF List

Dictation MP3 Zip List

Ten Word Speed Ups PDF & MP3 ZIP

Facility Drill books

The drill books practise all the exercise sentences. They have red ink outlines and the full text at the end. Using red gives you the choice of overwriting the outlines in a different colour pen, for additional practice in training the hand to make the shapes. It is also easier to copy beneath a sample sentence if it stands out as a different colour from your writing pen/pencil.

The books for the first 10 Lessons are laid out with one paragraph of 6 sentences per A5 page, with 3 blank lines beneath each sentence. These are for printing out and filling in as practice drills.

The remainder are laid out with 2 paragraphs=12 sentences per A5 page, with one blank line under each. These are for:

(1) printing and using as above, overwriting the outlines in another colour, or

(2) printing or reading on screen, and placed next to your notepad, so that you can copy each line neatly and produce your own facility drill pages, using a normal notepad, and leaving as many blank lines beneath each sentence as you require.

To get the best out of a facility drill, make sure you can read each line without hesitation, before starting to write. If you can't read an outline, you are perfecting the habit of stopping to ponder, and this is not helpful for smooth and rapid shorthand writing. It is not an exercise in making up outlines or thinking how to write them, but of writing known outlines ever more smoothly, and consolidating your instant recall of them.

Facility Drills pads do not need securing like a notepad, they can be used single and loose, or with a punched holes and held with treasury tags, as there is no need to have pages that turn smoothly. With dictations, the opposite is needed, a top spiral bound notepad of normal size, so you can practise rapid page turning, and be writing on a pad that remains stable while you are taking down.

Dictations

These were dictated at approx 60 wpm, slightly slower on longer words, with 3 seconds between sentence lines, and 7 seconds between paragraphs. If you are still writing during all the gaps, your overall speed is likely to be in the mid 40's, but if you finish writing each sentence keeping pace with the speaker, then your speed will be 55-60 wpm. The priority is to write correct and readable outlines, with an incentive to write swiftly and not slow down to think, hesitate or draw the outlines. The pen/pencil should be moving no more slowly than your normal relaxed longhand writing, but, because it is shorthand, one simple shape or mark will represent a whole word or phrase rather than just one letter of the alphabet.

Always prepare for these dictations, practising the outlines singly, in phrases and in whole sentences. Take each dictation paragraph several times, making corrections and re-practising in between.

Avoid writing from the dictation into the drill book, as that reduces it to mere copying and does not practise recall from memory. A facility drill repeats the word, phrase or sentence many times in quick succession to train the hand and consolidate knowledge, whereas a dictation gives each sentence only once and trains you to recall the outlines immediately in response to the sound, with no chance to stop and think.

Always preparing for the dictation will ensure rapid progress. A dictation you have practised several times can be taken again the next day, when it is more or less cold. This adds to confidence, proving not only that the material is in long term memory but also that it can be recalled on demand.

If you wish to record your own, keep to about one word a second (60 wpm) and leaving gaps/silences to allow catching up. This is preferable to speaking unnaturally slowly, as there is the incentive to make every effort to keep up, before the next chunk comes. You can vary the content of the sentences given here, mixing parts of sentences, to keep it fresh and keep the mind and memory at work, and not getting complacent.

Vowel signs

Shorthand cannot be written at a fair speed while having to insert all the vowel signs. Therefore it is preferable to proceed at a rate that allows their insertion, for thorough learning. You can use the free sound editing program Audacity to slow down some of the dictations in the early stages while vowel signs are being inserted. You can do this by using the Effects/Tempo setting, or clipboarding a second of silence, and inserting it repeatedly after each sentence, as required.

You can also use Audacity to vary the dictations by clipboarding one sentence or one paragraph, and inserting it into a new file many times, then output to a new MP3, thus making a longer dictation for more intensive practise on single items. Once all the Lessons are complete, you can retake all the dictations at various higher speeds using the Effects/Tempo setting, before going on to the Reading website where all the matter is connected narratives and articles, with minimal vocalising of the outlines.

Facility Drill PDF

FDrill Exercises Lessons 1-2-3-4-5 1.6 MB - 27Jun22

FDrill Exercises Lessons 6-7-8 1.9 MB - 19Jun22

FDrill Exercises Lessons 9-10 2.6 MB - 19Jun22

FDrill Exercises Lessons 11-12-13 3.2 MB - 19Jun22

FDrill Exercises Lessons 14-15 2 MB - 20Jun22

FDrill Exercises Lessons 16-17-18 2.6 MB - 20Jun22

FDrill Exercises Lessons 19-20 2.3 MB - 20Jun22

FDrill Exercises Lessons 21-22 3.3 MB - 9 Jul22

FDrill Exercises Lessons 23-24-25 2.9 MB - 9Jul22

FDrill Exercises Lessons 26-27 2.5 MB - 13Jul22

FDrill Exercises Lessons 28-29 2.3 MB - 13Jul22

FDrill Exercises Lessons 30-31-32 2 MB - 18Jul22

FDrill Exercises Lessons 33-34-35 2.5 MB - 20Jul22

FDrill Exercises Lessons 36-37 2.3 MB - 23Jul22

FDrill Exercises Lessons 38-39 1.9 MB - 25Jul22

FDrill Exercises Lessons 40-41-42 3.2 MB - 27Jul22

FDrill Exercises Lessons 43-44 1.8 MB - 30Jul22

FDrill Exercises Lessons 45-46 3 MB - 1Aug22

FDrill Exercises Lessons 47 2 MB - 13Jul2023

FDrill Exercises Lessons 48-49 2 MB - 4Aug22

FDrill Exercises Lessons 50-51 2.5 MB - 18Aug22

FDrill Exercises Lessons 52-53-54 3 MB - 18Aug22

FDrill Exercises Lessons 55 1.7 MB - 19Aug22

FDrill Exercises Lessons 56 1.9 MB - 19Aug22

FDrill Exercises Lessons 57-58 1.3 MB - 19Aug22

Dictation MP3 ZIP

Dicts Exercises Lessons 1-2-3-4-5 38 MB - 2Jul22

Dicts Exercises Lessons 6-7-8 47 MB - 2Jul22

Dicts Exercises Lessons 9-10 66 MB - 2Jul22

Dicts Exercises Lessons 11-12-13 88 MB - 2Jul22

Dicts Exercises Lessons 14-15 54 MB - 2Jul22

Dicts Exercises Lessons 16-17-18 74 MB - 2Jul22

Dicts Exercises Lessons 19-20 72 MB - 2Jul22

Dicts Exercises Lessons 21-22 99 MB - 9Jul22

Dicts Exercises Lessons 23-24-25 84 MB - 9Jul22

Dicts Exercises Lessons 26-27 69 MB - 13Jul22

Dicts Exercises Lessons 28-29 67 MB - 13Jul22

Dicts Exercises Lessons 30-31-32 56 MB - 15Jul22

Dicts Exercises Lessons 33-34-35 69 MB - 20Jul22

Dicts Exercises Lessons 36-37 55 MB - 23Jul22

Dicts Exercises Lessons 38-39 47 MB - 25Jul22

Dicts Exercises Lessons 40-41-42 89 MB - 27Jul22

Dicts Exercises Lessons 43-44 48 MB - 30Jul22

Dicts Exercises Lessons 45-46 80 MB - 1Aug22

Dicts Exercises Lessons 47 49 MB - 4Aug22

Dicts Exercises Lessons 48-49 51 MB - 4Aug22

Dicts Exercises Lessons 50-51 65 MB - 15Aug22

Dicts Exercises Lessons 52-53-54 80 MB - 15Aug22

Dicts Exercises Lessons 55 52 MB - 15Aug22

Dicts Exercises Lessons 56 55 MB - 15Aug22

Dicts Exercises Lessons 57-58 34 MB - 15Aug22

Ten Word Speed Ups

These are lists of 10-word sentences in text and shorthand, so that you can prepare drill pages on your own notepad. They are intended for speed up attempts, as a fixed sentence length makes it easy to calculate how many words you have written. You can time an entire page of 20 lines x 10 words, or set a one-minute timer and calculate how many words you wrote in that minute.

The last page  of the PDF is a blank practice sheet, with lines numbered 1-20.

The text is edited versions of Lessons Exercises or various revision items from the Reading website, therefore consult those for further notes on the outlines and phrases.

Text & Shorthand PDF:

Ten Word Speed Ups (A) Phrases   9 MB - 8Oct23*

*typo on p5 corrected

(based on Lessons Exercises 55 & 56 Phrasing)

Ten Word Speed Ups (B) Phrases   8 MB - 17Apr23

(based on Reading Blogs Jan&Sep2018, Nov2020)

Ten Word Speed Ups (C) Omission Phrases   2.6 MB - 17Apr23

(based on Reading Blogs Jun2014 & Dec2019)

Ten Word Speed Ups (D) Instructor Phrases   7.2 MB - 3Jun23 (based on Reading Blogs Sep2016, Feb,Apr,May,Jun,Jul2017)

Text only:

Ten Word Speed Ups Text ABCD PDF  0.7 MB - 8Oct23

Speed Ups A txt file 8Oct23*     *typo corrected

Speed Ups B txt file 20Apr23

Speed Ups C txt file 20Apr23

Speed Ups D txt file 3Jun23

Dictation MP3 ZIP:

Dicts Ten Word Speed Ups (A) 1to32   92 MB - 17Apr23

Dicts Ten Word Speed Ups (B) 1to29   84 MB - 17Apr23

Dicts Ten Word Speed Ups (C) 1to10   28 MB - 17Apr23

Dicts Ten Word Speed Ups (D) 1to26   73 MB - 17Apr23

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