Art of Chording

# Vowels aw and ow; right side K

Now that we've covered every key in the steno layout, we need to start addressing the missing sounds.

In this lesson, we will fill in the sounds present on the left side of the keyboard that are not on the right side. Notice that K, W, and H are not on the right side of the keyboard.

# Right side K

Because we don't have any more keys to work with, we need to start combining keys to make those missing sounds. The steno layout is made such that sounds that are created with chords of other letters should have a low chance of collision within the English language. While there are some notable exceptions, you will find that most words are intuitive when you are employing the layout yourself.

The first chorded sound we will learn is the final K sound. It is produced on the right hand with -BG.

# S T K P W H R A O * E U F R P B L G T S D Z
  • TABG: tack
  • WABG: wack
  • SHABG: shack
  • ROBG: rock
  • SOBG: sock
  • STRUBG: struck

# Right side W

On the left hand we have a W key, but there is no such thing on the right. Instead, we will have our "final W" as a diphthong, or a combination of vowels. There are two:

# AU: the "aw" sound

# S T K P W H R A O * E U F R P B L G T S D Z
  • SAU: saw
  • TAUBG: talk (TABG: tack)
  • AUL: all (AL: al)
  • PAUL: Paul

# OU: the "ow" sound

# S T K P W H R A O * E U F R P B L G T S D Z
  • HOU: how
  • HOUS: house
  • OUT: out
  • OUL: owl

# Briefs

Chord Translation Notes
AULS or AULZ always This is possible because "alls" isn't a word
AUFL awful
OBG okay The letters "O" and "K"
AF after
EZ easy The letters "E" and "Z"
WAUR water
KO could Instead of KOULD
WO would Instead of WOULD
SHO should Instead of SHOULD

# How to practice

Now that we are beginning to use chorded sounds, reading shorthand will become more and more difficult. Don't worry too much if you feel like the difficulty of the practice material is going up, because it is! Luckily, professional stenographers rarely have to read their own raw steno notes. Instead, all translation is instant. You will usually be working from the word to the outlines, not from the outlines to the word.

Take note of all the possible ways that you could interpret a stroke if it's unclear initially.

# Practice

# 1. Translate

Write the English sentence represented by these outlines, including punctuation.

  1. WO U TAUBG TO US H-F
  2. WE KO START KW-BG SHO WE H-F
  3. AULS HUG -T RATS TP-PL
  4. HOU S -T KAT H-F
  5. -T WORBG S EZ SKP HE S AULZ UP TO T TP-PL
  6. T S OBG KW-BG WE R OBG AF AUL TP-PL
  7. T WAZ AUFL AT -T WAUR TP-PL
  8. POR HER AEU KUP -F WAUR TP-PL
  9. HE HAZ -T POUR -F HART TP-PL
  10. SHE SAU HER AT -T WAUR AF AEU WAUBG TP-PL

Remember that if you can't figure out an outline, you can look it up in the theory dictionary.

# 2. Find outlines

Find steno outlines that will write these English sentences, including punctuation.

  1. How are you always okay with cats?
  2. Should you be with her?
  3. Could you be with us?
  4. We would be with you.
  5. The rat was with the water.
  6. It is easy to be her after all.

← Left side D, B, and L →