20. The definition already cited - that phrasing is "the joining of words without lifting the pen" - is further defective, because it ignores many phrases (commonly and properly so called,) in the writing of which the pen is lifted for the purpose of bringing into operation that useful expedient, "proximity,"* by which, for the purpose of implying certain omitted syllables or words, two characters are brought nearer to each other than ordinary, though not near enough to join. Thus the phrase from day to day, (in which, for the purpose of indicating the omitted words from and to, the two d's are brought close together, though not connected,) is a true phrase - so named and recognized by all stenographers: yet no words are joined; the two strokes constituting the whole phrase as written are separated by a pen-lift. Phrases in the writing of which the pen is thus lifted for the sake of indicating by "proximity" omitted syllables or words may be called broken phrases.

*See Chapter XII (Proximity).