Developing a strong vocabulary is essential for office administration professionals who use shorthand to efficiently capture spoken and written information. In Kenya’s dynamic office environments, including county government offices and financial institutions, the ability to extend one’s shorthand vocabulary enables faster and more accurate transcription of meetings, correspondence, and reports. This chapter focuses on applying vocabulary in shorthand and identifying new words, phrases, short forms, intersections, and sentences to enhance shorthand proficiency. These skills are crucial for administrators to keep pace with evolving language use and professional communication demands.

1.1 Application of vocabulary in shorthand

A shorthand writer's vocabulary is the stock of outlines, short forms and phrases they can write and read without stopping to think. The larger and better organised that stock is, the faster and more accurate the notes. In an office, the vocabulary needed depends on the work: a secretary in a law firm meets words such as "plaintiff", "affidavit" and "adjournment", while one in a construction company meets "tender", "contractor" and "specification". Applying vocabulary in shorthand therefore means deliberately building, using and maintaining a working list of outlines that matches the dictation the writer actually receives.

A strong vocabulary helps in three ways:

• Speed: a known outline is written at once, without working out its sounds, so the writer keeps pace with the speaker.
• Accuracy: an outline written the same way every time is read back correctly during transcription.
• Comprehension: a writer who knows the subject's words understands the dictation as it is given, and can tell apart words that sound alike, such as "invoice" and "receipt" or "accept" and "except".

1.1.1 Create a core vocabulary list

A core vocabulary list is a written record of the words and phrases the writer meets most often, each with its correct shorthand outline beside it. It is the writer's personal reference and the starting point for drilling. A secretary in a manufacturing company, for example, may list "purchase order", "delivery note", "production schedule" and "quality control" among the first entries.

Steps in creating a core vocabulary list:

1. Collect samples of the documents the office produces: letters, memos, minutes and reports.
2. Underline the words and phrases that appear again and again.
3. Group them by subject, for example finance, staff matters, meetings and customers.
4. Look up the correct outline for each word in the shorthand dictionary and write it neatly beside the longhand.
5. Add the standard short forms and phrases that go with the group (for instance "Dear Sir", "yours faithfully", "we have received").
6. Keep the list in a small notebook or a typed table that can be carried and revised.

1.1.2 Use standard abbreviations and short forms

Short forms are brief outlines that the shorthand system gives to very common words such as "the", "and", "of", "to", "be" and "have". Standard abbreviations are shortened outlines the system provides for long or frequent words and expressions. Because every writer of the same system learns the same short forms, notes written with them can be read by any trained colleague, which matters when one secretary transcribes another's notes.

Guidelines for using them:

• Learn the system's short forms by heart before adding personal abbreviations.
• Use phrasing (joining two or three common words in one outline, such as "I have" or "it is") only where the system allows it.
• Write longhand initials, such as those of an organisation, in capital letters so they are not mistaken for outlines.
• Never change the shape of a standard short form: a small change may turn it into a different word.
• Record any non-standard abbreviation in the core vocabulary list so that its meaning is fixed.

Common office abbreviations

Some abbreviations come from ordinary office writing rather than from shorthand, such as "dept" for department, "mtg" for meeting and "Ref." for reference. They may be used in notes as long as they are always expanded in full during transcription and are not confused with similar forms (for example "dept" for department and "dep" for deposit).

1.1.3 Prioritize high frequency words

High frequency words are the words that make up most of any dictation: articles, pronouns, prepositions, common verbs and the everyday terms of the office's business. Mastering these first gives the greatest gain in speed, because they occur in almost every sentence. In a travel agency, for example, "booking", "flight", "client", "confirm" and "payment" will recur many times in a single morning's dictation.

How to prioritise them:

• Count how often words appear in a sample of the office's own letters and minutes, and rank them.
• Learn the system's short forms first, since they already cover the most frequent words.
• Drill the top twenty or thirty office terms until they can be written without hesitation.
• Practise them in phrases, as they are actually spoken ("we shall be pleased", "at your earliest convenience").
• Leave rare technical words until the frequent ones are secure.

1.1.4 Regularly update and review vocabularies

A vocabulary list is never finished. New products, projects, laws and technologies bring new words into the office, and words that are not used for some time are forgotten. Regular updating and review keeps the list current and the outlines fresh in memory. For example, when a firm starts a new project, its name, partners and technical terms should be added to the list in the first week.

Good practices for updating and reviewing:

• Set a fixed time each week to add new words met in dictation, correspondence or meetings.
• Check each new outline against the shorthand dictionary before drilling it.
• Revise the whole list at intervals, testing yourself by covering the longhand column and reading the outlines.
• Mark words that cause hesitation or errors and give them extra drills.
• Remove or set aside words that are no longer used, so that practice time goes to current vocabulary.
• Share useful new outlines with colleagues who use the same system, so the office writes them the same way.

Chapter Summary

This chapter explores the development and application of vocabulary extension in shorthand, emphasizing the creation of a core vocabulary list and the use of standard abbreviations and short forms. It highlights the importance of prioritizing high-frequency words and regularly updating vocabularies to enhance shorthand proficiency. The identification of new words, phrases, short forms, intersections, and sentences is examined, focusing on terms relevant to contemporary contexts. Drilling new outlines in shorthand is discussed with attention to fundamental rules, understanding principles, practicing phonetics, and using consistent methods such as grouping and repetition. Strategies for improving speed reading in shorthand include mastering basics, building fluency, and engaging in dictation exercises. The chapter also addresses proofreading techniques to ensure consistency, accuracy, and error detection in shorthand notes. Finally, it outlines the process of transcribing shorthand notes and the rules for printing them, emphasizing clarity, proper punctuation, and accuracy in decoding to maintain readability.