Having thus been familiarized with the word-building and phrase-building principles, the student is ready for the next step - practice on new matter. This section of the book contains carefully selected and graded correspondence in many different lines of business. The special features of this section are:

1.  Names and addresses are given for the purpose of developing facility in dealing with them - a very important factor in training students for actual work, which is neglected in most dictation books.

2.    The words of each letter are counted in sections of twenty-five words, with the total number, exclusive of the address, given at the end of the letter. This will be found useful in giving dictation at a given rate of speed.

3.  The new, difficult or technical words and phrases are illustrated by shorthand notes in the left-hand margin. This plan of marginal notes permits of more copious illustration than any book hitherto published, while it permits reference to the shorthand outline without loss of time.

4.  Repetition practice is fully utilized. The outlines for difficult or peculiar words, or for phrases which should have plenty of repetition practice, are sometimes given over and over again. We state this explicitly because some dictation books make a merit of not repeating outlines. In our judgment some shorthand forms cannot be repeated too often to impress them upon the memory of the student and give him facility in writing them.

5. Some forms are given which will familiarize the student with terms used in law work. As law work is a special branch of stenographic work, we intend to publish, in the course of a few months, a handbook on court reporting, containing outlines for law terms and court reporting phrases, supplemented by plates of actual testimony.

Shorthand Plates

At the end of the book are given a number of plates in shorthand for combined reading and writing practice. Most of the matter is selected with a view to being helpful and encouraging to shorthand students and stenographers.

Acknowledgments

We tender our sincere thanks to the teachers who have contributed much of the material used in this book. In particular we desire to express our appreciation of the help given by Mr. Rupert P. SoRelle in collecting the material and furnishing most of the "Principle Letters;" to Mr. Raymond P. Kelley for assisting in editing and preparing the book for publication; and to Miss Pearl A. Power for the remarkably artistic manner in which she has prepared the shorthand plates from our pencil outlines - a feature of the book, which we feel sure, will be as gratifying to teachers as it is to us.

In Conclusion

GREGG SPEED PRACTICE has been prepared to meet an urgent demand for a complete, practical and authoritative textbook for advanced work. We sincerely hope that it will fulfill its mission and meet with a cordial reception from all teachers of Gregg Shorthand.

The Gregg Publishing Company.

Chicago, January, 1907.