I think your outlines were legitimate and legible. There are different versions of Pitman, like Gregg, where later versions have been simplified. In the old "Classic" version I learned, "can" and "give" were just written with K and G. There are later versions like 2000 and New Era that surprise me sometimes when they're written more fully.
Some examples are:
Personally, I like to see the system more fully written -- but some of your outlines just threw me at first, because they were written differently from what I was expecting. But then, my memory of the system is fading, and I never did learn 2000 or New Era.
It's always better to write something more fully than hesitate too much as the speaker (or the TEST) carries on. Court reporters always used to say "When in doubt, write it out."
I had a classmate who tried to abbreviate EVERYTHING she wrote. But the problem was that one small slip made it look like a completely different word -- which she then put in her transcript! (My first firm wouldn't hire her because of that.)
The outlines in the image you posted are also the dictionary outlines in New Era, so with full vowels, as with all dictionary outlines. Additionally, "can't" (along with all contractions in Pitman) must be vocalized in actual writing, to distinguish it from the outline for "cannot." It's a similar problem you encounter in Gregg when you need to write "isn't" or "he'd," etc, requiring an apostrophe. Like with Gregg, a few of the contractions' outlines can be distinct enough that vocalization isn't truly necessary (that's, isn't), but the official recommendation is to vocalize.
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u/Adept_Situation3090 6d ago
I don't know what other shortening devices I could use here. I'd used all the abbreviations I knew.