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GREGG

REPORTING
SHORTCUTS

(By John (Robert Gve%&




c FSe Gregg < 7h6/is^ina Company



NEW YORK : CHICAGO : liOSTON ! SAN FRAN( 1S( (J
TORONTO : LONDON



COPYRIGHT, 19 2 2, BY THE

GREGG PUBLISHING COMPANY

L54— ROL— 1

Ch

SHORTHAND PLATES WRITTEN BY
U [NIFRED KENNA



PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA



W IN '30

PREFACE



THIS book is intended for writers of Gregg Shorthand
who desire to become reporters, and particularly for
those who wish to become court reporters.

The book deals almost wholly with the question of
securing the high degree of shorthand skill needed in report-
ing, and no attempt is made to explain the duties of a
reporter, the procedure or organization of court or hearings.
These matters are covered very completely in several books
on the subject, particularly in The Stenographic Expert, by
Mr. Willard B. Bottome, of which admirable book a Gregg
edition is now in preparation.

The reporting phrases and shortcuts in this book embody
the accumulated experience of many of the most expert
writers of the system. The compilation of the court-report-
ing phrases began in 1910 and 1911, at the time Mr. Swem,
Miss Tarr, and Miss Werning were preparing for the national
shorthand speed contests. The court testimony, jury
charges, arguments of counsel, and straight literary matter,
used by these writers for practice, were exhaustively ana-
lyzed and the commonly- recurring phrases listed. The short-
hand forms for these phrases were tested for legibility at
high speed, and only those that passed this "acid test" were
retained. When forms for phrases of common occurrence in
court work were found to be too long for the exigencies of
of very high speed, briefer forms were devised — always in
harmony with the fundamental principles. Since that time
the more extensive use of the system by professional re-
porters has enabled us to shorten many of the phrases
obtained in the way we have described; some of the phrase-



GREGG REPORTING SHORTCUTS



forms, indeed, have gone through an interesting process of
evolution.

The next accretion to the list of reporting phrases came
from the many useful forms given in the Reporters' Depart-
ment of the Gregg Writer — the majority of these having been
suggested or developed by that accomplished reporter, Mr.
Fred II. Gurtler, of Chicago, winner of the final contest for
the famous Miner Medal. I am also indebted to several
writers of the system for lists of phrases they have found
useful in various lines of expert shorthand work.

In addition to this, I have spent a great deal of time in
the study of all kinds of court proceedings, and in devising
forms to meet the exigencies of the most rapid reporting.
The shorthand magazines and the proceedings of reporters'
associations have been gone over in the most painstaking
way, and I have felt fully repaid for many hours of labor
when I have been able to add or devise one phrase-form
that would be of assistance to our reporters.

I earnestly invite reporters to send me lists of phrases
which they have found useful in their work, so that these
may be published in theGregg Writer, or in a future edition
of this book, for the benefit of the profession.

A successful business man once said:

You have a dollar. I have a dollar. We swap. Now

you have my dollar and I have yours. We are no better
off. You have an idea. 1 have an idea. We swap.
Now you have two ideas, and 1 have two ideas.

If each of the reporters and expert writers of Gregg
Short hand sent me just it n useful phrase-f orms to be included
in the next edition, what a wealth of good forms would be
available for the use of all writers! Let's swap ideas!

JOHN ROBERT GREGG



CONTENTS



PART ONE

Page

PREFACE iii

ALBERT SCHNEIDER, 1921 CHAMPION 2

INTRODUCTION 3

Build on What You Know 3

The Importance of Reporting 3

Reporting an Interesting Profession 5

The Reporter's Work and Remuneration 6

The Demand for Reporters 6

Preparation for Reporting 7

Confidence in Your System 8

Facts about Shorthand Speed 9

Speed Achievements in Shorthand 14

British Speed Contests — Championship 17-19

Comparison of British and American Records 20

American Speed Contests 22

Fifth International Speed Contest 23

Adams Trophy Contest 23

World Shorthand Championship — N. S. R. A. Contests 26

200 Solid Matter; 240 Jury Charge; 2S0 Testimony 27

Southwest Shorthand Reporters' Association Contest, 1920 . . 28

Gregg Writer Wins World Championship 29

Mr. Schneider's and Mr. Daly's Work Compared 30

Mr. Schneider Breaks World Records 31

Eastern Commercial Teachers' Association Contests 32

British Junior Championship, 1912 33

Dubious Records in Shorthand 33

The Alleged "300-Word-a-Minute Record" 33

Two-Minute Records 3o

Handicap Contest, 1920 35

Gregg Shorthand Superior for Reporting 36

N. S. R. A. Speed Certificates Awarded to Gregg Writers. ... 38

v



CONTENTS



Page

FOUNDATIONS OF REPORTING SKILL 39

Knowledge of the System 30

How to Improve Your Knowledge of the System 40

Tests 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 41-43

Keep the Principles Fresh in Mind 45

The Reporter's Tools 45

The Notebook 40

Posture 47

Position of the Hand and Arm 51

Correct Habits 52

Shorthand Penmanship and Execution 54

Size of Notes 56

Compactness 57

Light Touch 5*

Reducing Waste Motion 5S

Turning Pages 61

Methods of Learning Wordsigns 62

Method of Learning Phrases 64

The Law of Rhythm in Phrase Writing 60

The Law of Diminishing Returns in Shorthand 68

Memory Strain 70

The Word-Carrying Faculty 70

Vocabulary 72

Methods of Practice 73

The Value of Reading 74

Repetition Practice 77

Dictation Practice Essential 78

The Use of the Phonograph 70

How to Use the Plates 70

PART TWO

SPECIAL WORD FORMS 83

REPORTING PHRASE FORMS 86

Key-Words to Phrases

Page Page Page

able 86 agent 87 annual 80

above 86 agree 88 answer 00

accidenl 87 always 88 as — as 90

acquainted 87 and (omitted) ... 88 ask 91



CONTENTS



Page

association 91

attention 92

attorney 92

away (see way) . . 93

bank 93

believe 93

board 94

bound 94

business 94

came 95

car 95

care, careful 96

certain, certainly 96

charge 97

children 97

circumstances. . . 97

city 98

civil service 98

common 98

company 99

conclusion 100

condition 100

consider-able-tion 101

corner 101

counsel 101

court 102

damage, damagesl03

daughter 103

day 104

defendant 104

degree 105

department 105

determine 106

did-you 107

do-you 108

do-you-know .... 108

else 109

engineer 109

evidence 110

examine,

examination. ..Ill
except, exception. 1 1 2
executors, etc.. . .112



Page

exercise 112

exhibit 113

experience,

experienced . . .113

extent 114

fact 114

find 116

floor 119

ground 119

guilty 119

had 120

her 121

him 121

holder 122

honor 123

house 123

how 124

human 126

immaterial, etc . . 126
injure, injury. . . . 126

in-law 127

instruct-tion 127

judge, judgment. 127
jury, juror, jury-
man 128

just 129

know, known. . . . 130

knowledge 131

law 132

left 132

like 132

manner 133

married 133

material 134

matter 134

mean 135

member 135

mile, miles 136

mind 136

month 136

morning 137

mortgage 137

name 138



Page

necessary 138

neglect, negligence,

negligent 138

night 139

no 140

notice 140

object, objection. 141

observe 141

office 142

often 142

opinion 142

order 144

other 144

out 145

own 145

part, party 146

people 147

place 147

plaintiff 148

platform 149

positive 150

possible, possiblylSO

prejudice 150

preponderance,

preponderatingl 5 1

prior 151

purpose 152

question 152

rate 154

reason-able-ably . 154

recall 156

recollect 156

recollection 157

remember 158

right 159

room 159

safety 160

said 160

say 162

secretary 164

see 164

side 165

sidewalk 166



CONTENTS



Page

since 166

so 167

speed 168

stairs 168

state, stated 168

statement 170

store 171

sure 171

swear 171

swore, sworn .... 172

tell 172

terms 173

lestifv, testimonyl73
than .' 174



Page

that-you 175

there-were 176

they- were 176

thing, things. ... 176

think 177

time 178

track 181

trial 182

understand,

understood. ... 182
United States. . .183

up 183

us 1S4



Page

value 185

verdict 185

way (see away). . 186

week 187

when-did-you. . . .187

where 189

whether,whether-

or not 191

while 193

willing 193

witness 194

year 194

yes 195



PART THREE

Page

AFFIRMATIVE AND NEGATIVE PHRASES 199

ALTERNATIVE PHRASES 199

REPETITION MARKS 200

ENCIRCLING OUTLINES 202

INDICATION OF FIGURES 203

RAILROAD NAMES AND PHRASES 204

LEGAL TERMS AND PHRASES 210

MEDICAL TERMS AND PHRASES 214

MILITARY TERMS AND PHRASES 221

NAVAL TERMS AND PHRASES 227

THEOLOGICAL TERMS AND PHRASES 232

CHEMICAL SYMBOLS AND TERMS 236



ILLUSTRATIONS

Writing Position of Charles L. Swem 48

Writing Position of Frederick II. Gurtler 49

Writing Position of Albert Schneider 50

Writing Position of Salome L. Tarr 82

Writing Position of Joseph M. Shaffer 196

Writing Position of E. W. Crockett 198



GREGG REPORTING SHORTCUTS
PART ONE




MR. ALBERT SCHNEIDER

Winner World Shorthand Championship

1921



INTRODUCTION

The office stenographer of today is the shorthand
reporter of tomorrow. — Willard B. Bottome.

BUILD on What You Know. Almost without excep-
tion the expert professional reporter comes up from
the ranks of office stenographers. Very few writers, when
they started out to learn shorthand, had in view the report-
er's chair as a final objective. Usually the preparation is
not decided upon beforehand, as in other professions, and
a plan made leading directly to a definite goal. As a con-
sequence, when the ambition does come to the would-be
reporter, he finds himself equipped with a certain degree
of skill in the use of shorthand, but oftentimes he has
acquired many bad habits that will handicap him for
reporting. He must take his structure as he finds it, analyze
it, determine what is to be done, and build on or capitalize .
what he has. This is not an insuperable task, for the fact
that he is ambitious to get into the reporting field shows
that he has an encouraging foundation — that he has devel-
oped a certain facility in speed, for example, that encourages
him to believe that reporting speed for him is not unattain-
able. All that is necessary is to find out the true status
and then to proceed to overcome any obstacles that may
be in the way. The suggestions that will be made in this
Introduction, and also in "Foundations of Reporting Skill,"
will show you how you can take what you have and make
the most of it.

The Importance of Reporting. The reporting pro-
fession is one that is worthy of the highest ambition of any
young person who wants to render a valuable service to
the world — a service in which he can find keen enjoyment,
variety of interest, intellectual recreation, an opportunity

3



GREGG REPORTING SHORTCUTS



for growth, association with big men and women, and an
attractive remuneration. Moreover, it is a profession in
which there is now little competition, but a constantly
growing demand.

The court reporter is an indispensable factor in the
administration of the law, for it is through him that the
written record of the proceedings are made. The impor-
tance of the court reporter's record is graphically described
by Mr. H. W. Thorne, an official court reporter of New
York.

Before his (the court stenographer's) advent, the report
of the charge of the court to the jury rested in the rough
memoranda of the court, and in the sparse notes kept by
counsel. Just what was said to the jury was a matter of
conjecture. On appeal it was impossible to know what
language the court used in charging the jury. The
charge of the court to the jury, the requests of the re-
spective counsel to charge the jury and the exceptions
taken by the counsel to the charge are the most important
and critical parts of a lawsuit. Probably more cases taken
upon appeal to appellate tribunals are reversed because
of errors in charging or refusals to charge the jury than for
any other reason. But, in order that the party, who
complains of such errors, shall have redress on appeal, he
should have taken "exception" to the charge as made, or to
the refusal of the court to charge as requested. And,
furthermore, the printed case on appeal must show that
such exception was taken. But what this "case" should
contain, the presiding judge was sole arbiter. It rested
absolutely within his discretion to "allow" or "disallow"
any proposition made by counsel when the case was
"settled," as it is technically called.

The transcript of a competent stenographer is now
relied upon for a correct statement of what occurred, and
such confidence is reposed in it by the bench and bar, that
in the case of Nelson against N. Y. C. & H. R. R. R.



GREGG REPORTING SHORTCUTS



(1 Law Bulletin, page 15), decided in 1878, it was held
that, where in the settlement of a case there is a dispute
as to words, the stenographer's minutes must control.

Reporting an Interesting Profession. The court
reporter's record is to the courts what accountancy and
bookkeeping are to business. The reporter's work is full
of interest. No two cases are alike. There are different
problems and personalities involved, different motives of
action, different situations and details. Many of the cases
reported in court outrival the most brilliant novels or
plays in action, in humor, and in dramatic climaxes. Every
phase of human life comes within the purview of the short-
hand reporter. The verbal combats of lawyers with wit-
nesses and with one another, the rulings and charges of
judges, the science and art of presenting cases, the logic
of law, the spell of oratory, of pathos, of humor, and even
the sordities of life, are all for the reporter to witness and
feel and put down on paper.

Charles Dickens found reporting to be the great school
of human nature, from which he drew the characters that
made him immortal. The reporter who adds general
reporting to his court room activities enjoys even a wider
range of interests. To the writer who likes to achieve,
who enjoys the spirit of a game, there is the constant race
between him and the witness or the orator, or the preacher
he may be reporting, which spurs him on to greater per-
fection in the art of shorthand writing.

The constant contact with brilliant lawyers, judges, pro-
fessional and business men, develops the reporter's intel-
lectual growth and spurs him on to greater mental alertness.
The transcribing of his notes brings into action his knowledge
of a great variety of subjects. He is constantly energized
to read and study, for one day he may be reporting an



6 GREGG REPORTING SHORTCUTS

intricate case in which expert medical authorities are giving
testimony, and next day the testimony of expert engineers,
economists, business men. Every human activity comes
into the court room.

The Reporter's Work and Remuneration. While
the court reporter, like all other professional men, is required
to work, and oftentimes intensively, there are many com-
pensations. The drudgery of reporting has been largely
eliminated in recent years. Instead of laboriously typing
out his record, the modern court reporter dictates his
notes to the phonograph, and the clyinders are transcribed
by typists. While the courts are not in session, the reporter
has his time to himself. As the courts are usually closed
during the summer months, he has a long vacation which
he can devote to outdoor pleasures, study, travel, or he
may do "free lance" reporting of conventions, etc., thereby
increasing his income. Many reporters utilize this time to
study law and eventually enter that profession. The com-
pensations of the court reporter are as good as, or better
than, those offered in many other professions. Official
court stenographers usually receive from $2,500 a year
upward for attendance and have transcript fees which
amount to as much or more. Many of the official reporters
in the large centers have an income of $10,000 or more a
year. An official appointment to a court reporting position
usually means a lifetime job to a competent reporter. In
many of the states the position is created by law and is
secured on examination, and is thus free from political
influence.

The Demand for Reporters. The demand for court
reporters is constantly increasing, not only on account of
the increase in the number of cases being tried, but by



GREGG REPORTING SHORTCUTS



the creation of new courts. At a recent meeting of the
New York State Shorthand Reporters' Association one of
the official reporters of New York City read a paper in
which he stated that the supply of court reporters was
growing smaller and smaller, and urged the necessity of
the reporters' associations taking definite steps toward the
training and preparation of court reporters. He pointed
out that in many of the counties of the state the examina-
tions for court reporters had been simplified in order to
secure enough reporters to do the work. One of the con-
tributing causes to the shortage of reporters is the difficulty
of learning one of the older systems of shorthand. Every
year literally hundreds of young writers with reporting
aspirations are discouraged from ever becoming skillful
enough for reporting work because of the difficulties they
encounter in obtaining even a moderate speed with these
systems. With our system, however, owing to its simplicity,
reporting speed can be obtained in half the time it takes
to reach it with one of the older systems. This is demon-
strated by the speed records made by young writers, which
will be given elsewhere.

The reporting profession is a most attractive one for
the writer who is willing to make the effort to acquire the
necessary technical skill.

Preparation for Reporting. But with all the advan-
tages of the court reporting profession, the first consideration
of the young writer is equipment for the work. While a
college education is an advantage and would be of value
to a general reporter, for all reporters do more or less editing
of extemporaneous addresses, it is not an absolute necessity.
Few of the official reporters today have had a college train-
ing. More depends upon natural aptitude, the capacity



8 GREGG REPORTING SHORTCUTS

for acquiring and applying information and principles, and
the technical skill in shorthand writing. Thorough prepa-
ration in speed and accuracy in shorthand are essential,
and the young writer should make every effort to secure
as complete a training as possible before entering the ranks
of reporters, but he necessarily will get the polish of the
accomplished reporter through the hard knocks of experi-
ence. His education must continue. He must strive to
perfect his art in order to uphold the high ideals of the
profession and to win the confidence and respect of the
court officials and the public.

In beginning his preparation for court reporting the
young writer should be imbued with absolute confidence
in the outcome. This feeling of confidence must be twofold
— confidence in the system he writes, and confidence in
himself.

Confidence in Your System. The writers of Gregg
Shorthand in past years have oftentimes been handicapped
by the persistence with which the many opponents of the
system have asserted that it was lacking in speed possi-
bilities. These statements were made continually by the
publishers of the older systems, whose business was menaced
by the growing popularity of Gregg Shorthand, and they
were repeated by many court reporters and others who had
not investigated the merits of the system for themselves
and who accepted without question the statements made
by the publishers of the systems they used. The constant
reiteration of them sometimes discouraged writers of our
system from attempting to become reporters.

It is a trait of the human family, old as history, to form
prejudices, oftentimes on incomplete information, and to
stick to them tenaciously, even rejecting the most con-



GREGG REPORTING SHORTCUTS 9

elusive evidence of their fallacy. The real students of the
art of shorthand writing in all its phases are more apt to
be broader minded in their views, as is shown by the state-
ment of the distinguished shorthand reporter, Theodore
Rose, of Elmira, New York, in an address to the New York
State Shorthand Reporters' Association.

I sometimes think that we have not given the encour-
agement we should to authors who have tried to give us
better systems of shorthand writing. We need an easier,
better, and less nerve-racking system of stenography than

we have to-day We should not be contented with

our present systems; while there have been marvelous
advances in other departments of life, we have failed to
make any progress. We are far behind the times.

Facts about Shorthand Speed. The records made
by writers of Gregg Shorthand in the national speed con-
tests in recent years and the large number of court reporters
and general reporters using it have rendered the argument
so futile that it now is very seldom used. We occasionally
hear of it, however, and since it is the only argument left
to our opponents, I am going to deal with it more completely
than I have done on any former occasion.

As it is impossible to discredit the remarkable speed
records made by writers of Gregg Shorthand, the argument
is now stated in this form : Since a much larger percentage
of reporters write Pitmanic shorthand than write Gregg
Shorthand, the Pitmanic systems are better adapted for
reporting work.

This method of reasoning is absolutely fallacious. Pit-
manic shorthand has been in use for nearly a century,
while Gregg Shorthand was first published in this country
— in pamphlet form — in 1893, and was not taught to any
great extent twenty years ago. It has been said that



10 GREGG REPORTING SHORTCUTS

official reporters "seldom die and never resign," and most
of the official reporters began the study of shorthand before
Gregg Shorthand was in existence, or at all events, before it
was taught extensively. A majority of the younger reporters
now write Gregg Shorthand.

The longevity of shorthand systems in the reporting
field is well known. The most notable illustration of it
is the use of the Gurney system (published in its first form
238 years ago!) with which the official reporting of the
British Parliament has been performed for more than a
century. When the Pitman system was first introduced
in England the advocates of the older systems — of Taylor
and Gurney, for example — claimed that the inferiority of
Pitman's Phonography was conclusively shown by the fact
that it was not used by reporters and that all the official
parliamentary reporters used the Gurney system. They
also pointed out that not one of the professional reporters
in London used the Pitman system. The following quota-
tion from the "Transactions of the International Short-
hand Congress" (held in London in 1887 to "commemorate
the Tercentenary of Modern Shorthand and the Jubilee of
Pitman's Phonography") will show that at that time —
when Pitman's system had been fifty years in existence —
the argument could have been applied to the Pitman system
with much greater reason than to Gregg Shorthand. Mr.
A. R. Marten, a Pitman reporter in London said:

I do not wish to go into any further comparison of
Phonography with other systems, because, after all, the
main point is the intelligent aptitude of the shorthand
writer, and the "system" is not of so much importance
provided a good one is used, and that it is thoroughly and
properly learned. As an illustration, I may say that in
(lie Institute of Shorthand Writers with which 1 have
the honor to be connected, and which consists of all the



GREGG REPORTING SHORTCUTS 11

professional shorthand writers, with one or two exceptions,
practicing in the Courts, of Law in London, three-sevenths
only are Phonographers. The remaining four-sevenths
write other systems, and I feel bound, in fairness, to say
this, that many of those writers of other systems are quite
as good shorthand writers at least as any Phonographers
in this country.

Here you have a statement made by a prominent mem-
ber of the Institute of Shorthand Writers, the membership
of which consisted of "all of the law reporters of London
with one or two exceptions" that only three-sevenths of