HALVING 2

(A) Circle S can be added to a halved stroke and the S sound is spoken last, with no vowel between the T/D and the S sounds:
 

pots spots pits beds bids tots

chats jades cats goods fits avoids

thoughts assets omits shots mats nets

hats wets methods debates expedites
 

Stee Loop after halving occurs in a few archaic words:

bidst didst

Note: "midst amidst" are given in Lesson 21

Derivatives generally keep their original form, and the stress remains on the original syllable:
 

paid repaid unpaid tied untied

code encode decode keyed mis-keyed

Compare: rapid noted inked

(B) Adding Ing

Stroke Ing is used where it makes a good angle:
 

coating acting guiding fighting

avoiding shooting waiting heating lifting

Dot Ing/Dash Ings is used where stroke Ing would not be clear or possible:
 

patting opting spotting bidding deeding

chatting omitting meetings hurting

(C) Joined Diphthongs

If there is a final joined diphthong, halving is used for either T or D:
 

pout spout about bout/bowed doubt endowed
 

cute/queued acute skewed vowed avowed

viewed feud refute spewed dispute issued

Dot Ing is added after the joined diphthong:

pouting spouting doubting disputing refuting feuding

When the finally joined diphthong can no longer be joined because of a Circle S, the outline reverts to the basic rule of thin/T, thick/D for one-syllable words:
 

pouts spouts disputes refutes

bouts doubts feuds

In a few outlines the I diphthong is written out of its normal place, in order to be able to join it, this also reverts to its normal place if there is a Circle S, or if a derivative adds a following stroke:
 

night finite fortnight* ignite lignite

* A British term meaning 14 days, i.e. "fourt(een) night(s)"

nights fortnights ignites lignites

night-time nightmare nightcap

nightly ignited igniting

(D) Downward L

In the following, the L is written downwards to continue the anticlockwise direction of the curve of the halved stroke or circle. As these words do not form pairs, it is not necessary to vary the direction of the L to indicate a final vowel:
 

fitly softly swiftly exactly

avidly vividly deservedly

Continuing the direction of a curve from one stroke/circle to another is called "similar motion" which makes the writing easier and smoother, and therefore faster.

Outlines where the parts cannot be written in one piece are written close together, this is called disjoining:
 

bedpost aptness badness tightness deadness

When disjoining there is no need to use the shorthand hyphen sign.

Where there are three T/Ds in succession, the outline is disjoined and it is the last stroke that is halved, this reflects the way that the syllables are spoken. Note that some these outlines tend to have a lot of vowel signs but in practice most of them can be omitted:
 

tidy tidied dot dotted date dated

edit edited audit audited dictate dictated
 

agitate agitated hesitate hesitated

rotate rotated restate restated

devastate devastated attitude attitudes

Note: state stated sedate sedated static

In the following, the T's are represented in the halving of two different strokes. As as there are good angles, no disjoining is necessary:
 

multitude exactitude aptitude rectitude certitude
 

(E) HALVING NOT USED

First stroke

The first stroke of an outline is generally not halved, as the first part of a word identifies it more exactly and so needs the full T or D stroke for clarity:

hotel detail deter schedule

paddock bottom academy

There are a few exceptions, to avoid overly long outlines and also enable easy derivatives, and note that it is still the first stroke that is written in position, even though it it halved:

detach detached, *dedicate dedicated

*deduct deducted, *detect detected

* Always insert the red underlined vowel in these sets, to distinguish

potato cottage pottage

Derivatives keep their original form, therefore the first stroke is not changed to a halved one unnecessarily:

deck bedeck, shod unshod

hot hotly, haughty haughtily haughtiness

wet wetness, weighty weightiness

(F) Unequal lengths

There must be a clear angle between strokes of unequal lengths, in order for the halving to show. If there is no good angle, the outline is written with full strokes:

Full strokes:
 

piped popped poppet bobbed

bopped mapped judged cooked

caked cogged locked liked

locate looked select legate
 

logged lagged fact faked

affect effect fogged infect

navigate defied fatigue
 

minute minute laminate nominate

disseminate tonight tenet denote donut

animate inanimate

(G) Distinguishing Outlines

When two outlines are the same or similar in shape and meaning, they need to be distinguished, as in fast writing the outlines are not always formed perfectly, or precisely in their correct position. There are two main methods to distinguish between them:

One of the pair is written against the general rule, marked here with *. Having differing outlines means that it is not so necessary to write in vowel signs. These are the dictionary outlines and it is not suggested that outlines should be changed arbitrarily by the writer:
 

poor pure, cost caused* (influenced)

fatal futile, fatally futilely

vital vitally

next newest, nugget ingot*

* The sound in "ingot" is Ing, as shown here, although the shorthand dictionary shows stroke N

thankless thoughtless, thanklessly thoughtlessly*

The second method is that the more common word of the two can be written without vowel signs and the second less common word always has the distinguishing vowel sign written in. This reduces the amount of vowel insertion that is necessary, although it always helpful to have vowels in both, where time permits:
 

honestly nicely, for the, off the

avoid evade, invite invade

altitude latitude, fortunately fortnightly

This also applies to phrases, where a short form is out of position and needs clarifying with a vowel sign:

for those, for this, for these

if those, if this, if these

to those, to this, to these

of me, of him, to me, to him

for me, for him, for the year, for her

No vowels are necessary where the phrase can be positioned to get both parts in their correct positions:

I shall, I wish, we shall, we wish*, of those, of this, of these

*  With "we wish" the phrase is not lowered but just written more shallowly so that the Ish goes through the line

SUMMARY

• Circle S is spoken last

• Outline with joined diphthong can be halved for either T or D

• Downward L after certain halved curves, to continue the anticlockwise motion

• Distinguishing Outlines - one of the pair may go against the rule

• Some outlines and phrases always need a vowel to clarify, as their stroke forms are identical

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