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more special outlines;
on the other hand, which is reduced to 'ooh', with the ommision of the word "the", and a slant to the 'h' , which is natural and lends to giving the impression of the following vowel 'a'. (The lack of "the" is because such small words like "to" and "the" are added when you read it back anyway, even if they aren't there, just as you do when you read back longhand.)

<a lot of in normal shorthand,
                                                        a lot of as a single character. >
The second outline shows it as a small 'l' in the 't' position, which removes the need for the first and last words altogether, you can also change this to "lots of" by adding an 's'.

I am sure (as a single outline)



in fact  (with the 'f' omitted, which distinguishes it from "in effect">)

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Rather busy today, I'd apologise and explain about the new job but you don't care, so a short and simple one it is.
It should be noted that when you make a mistake in shorthand do not scribble it out, or try editting it, as it may be mistaken for the wrong word. Hence people who write in shorthand just ring it with a circle and carry on, although the act of circling a wrong outline is also applied to having heard and written down the wrong word as well as just writing the word wrong.

Don't correct youre outlines in longhand, it defeats the point of learning and writing shorthand as it wastes time. Also don't hestitate if you make a mistake; you don't pause if you write a word wrong in longhand, just ring it and rewrite it and carry on, having mistakes you have noticed isn't a bad thing, having mistakes you haven't is what you should worry about.

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Halfway home.
Phrasing; the phrasing that you use to take down your shorthand can be used to quicken your writing speed if you can edit it appropraitly, in that you don't lose the meaning of the sentance due to missing out too many words, or rearranging them so the original meaning is lost.

Firstly there is the combining of outlines to reduce a whole phrase into a one. However there are rules to this, although you can of course make your own, so long as you remember them, but best advice learn the rules first then, when your comfortable try writing your own; the first and formost rule you should know is that you should only group words that fit together naturally, that is common phrases. Secondly, don't group together phrases of more than four words maximum, thats when things get a little too confusing as the outline will mostly unrecogniseable.

Joining pronouns and verbs;
"I am" is a single outline, using the 'I' indicator and removing the 'a' of  "am" to reduce writing time, whilst keeping it similar to longhand; the contraction "I'm" although when translating back use the full "I am."


Other for example;
< I know    
                                                                                 it is >       
   


< I do             
                                                                                                                       i must

Phrases with 'to'
you can add any small word to the end of the word "to" to avoid lifting the pen.

For example;
< to see      

  


Phrases with "that"

That the

The second 't' cuts across the 'h' of "that", which includes the advantage that the next word can often be joined onto the end of this outline. Note that the second 't' is used as both the ending of 't' in "that" and the first 't' in "the", to appropriately follow the rule of no double letters.

Other examples;
<that some          
                                                                                    
                                                                                    that we>        


that this





phrases with 'the'
For example;
<of the                
                                                                                              and the>  
              

<about the                  
                                                                                            in the>
          

<to the



The 't' is omitted from "the" and the 'h' is tacked on the end Although 't' can and should be included if you find the outline too sparse for your liking, which is perfectly acceptable: as a 'h' does not a "the" make. Although the addition of a 't' can help remove doubt about the 'h' if it is drawn below the line, making it look like a 'p'.

Phrases with "be"
For example;
must be
"be" is a prime example of words that can be joined up, as the 'b' that represents "be" can be added to pretty much any outline.
A variation of must be
The 'b' can be turned on its side like so. 
Other examples;
<have been/has been
By moving the first curve of the 'b' into a slope of 'h' it can represent the 'h' of "has" for example, although it is only two letters, the context will dictate what it indicates.
More examples;

<to be
                                                                           would be>
   

Should be>

Phrases with "have"
As with longhand if "have" is the second word of a phrase it can be reduced to 've' of in shorthand 'v'.
For example; <ould have




Phrases with "not"
for example; do not>
"not" can be joined to the previous word to avoid lifting the pen, although it should be noted that even if it is seconf in a phrase it should never be lifted to the 't' position.

‘not’ can joined to the previous word to avoid lifting the pen, although t should be noted that even if it is second in a phrase it should never be lifted to the ‘t’ position.

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Punctuation of shorthand:
As within longhand, without punctuation sentances can mingle and become confusing to read back. Hence there is a limited spectrum within shorthand, which is entirely nessecary despite what some may say. Other punctuation that is not within this list is either not used in shorthand or is written in the same way as longhand punctuation, such as; commas, question marks, quation marks etc.

Full stop; a long sloping line which is written upwards, starting below the bottom line and cutting through it. It doesn't need to be perfect, it can be as large and sloppy as you like.


Capital mark; only used for proper names as it takes time to write due to having to lift the pen from the page to include, and as such it is not used at the beginning of a new sentence. It consists of two small dashes underneath the word.

Paragraph mark; not actually necessary but used all the same, to save lines due to the amount of space one line of shorthand can take up. It uses two dashes like the one used for the full stop.

Dash; is awkward and used rarely but specifically, it looks as it does to cause the least amount of possibility to confuse it with another outline.

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The return of shorthand at last...
Advice for learning shorthand:

1 - Firstly that a "Half an hour's study six days a week is better than six hours in two three-hour sessions."

2 - Reading shorthand really helps in learning to write shorthand.

3 - If an outline causes some confusion, don't panic over it, take another look but if you still can't work it out, move on and eventually the rest of the sentence will clear up any words you don't recognise and any misunderstandings in translation as well.

4 - For increasing your speed at writing, find or make a recording, start slow, then use a slightly faster recording. Keep going until you're happy with your speed.

4 - i) Try not to use a tect like a book to translate and copy into shorthand, as you won't be writing it properly; where some words can be removed, you won't, double letters will be added and you punctuation will likely fall through.

4 - ii) Whilst avoiding using text to practise your shorthand with, this can also be avoided if you say the words aloud as you write them, but do be careful as this may become a habit.

5 - Despite advice number 4, you can practise random words by using a needle to stab into a dictionary, and pick a word, even if its one you don't know, in which case this will help your vocabulary as well, this will help when being dictated something.

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Contractions 2;



The reading and writing of braille is simple enough, once you can remember the basics, like any language it can be broken down to the core basis as what I have described and recalled and used without a moments thought. Such as the english language, we all once struggled with reading and writing, learning each individual letter and learning how and why they fitted together in different situations to form longer and longer words, expanding as our vocabulary grew. Then we decided to cut words down into slang to create contractions of these longer words for faster typing ability, all in the name of progressing further with our language.

The images used of the alphabet, punctuation, accented letters and contrations of braille are taken from the omniglot website.

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There are a few different types of Braille;
Uncontracted - Grade 1:
consisting of the standard 26 letters, with punctuation, namely used by people beginning to read braille.
Contracted - Grade 2:
consisting of the same stard alphabet and punctuations and standard contrations. (The contraction are used as the amount of braille that can fit on a page is not the same as stardard text, they are used in public places; menus, signs and books.)
Grade 3:
used for personal situations, diaries and notes, although it has been known to appear in books. This isn't an official style but is often used nonetheless, its rather like shorthand in the idea that most words are turned into a small collection of letters.

Contractions 1;

http://www.braillebug.org/braille_deciphering.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braille
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/braille.htm