10. The following exercise is made up of three separate series of letters; write out the précis of each series separately in proper order : Mr. Bedford Flood to Admiralty. April 4, 1871. Mr. Jabez Israel to Mr. Henry Harford. June 23, 1858. Mr. J. Makepiece to Messrs. Shackle & Curb. Nov. 3, 1864. Mr. Jabez Israel to Mr. Henry Harford. June 26, 1858. Admiralty to Mr. Bedford Flood. Mr. Jabez Israel to Mr. Henry Harford. June 5, 1858. Mr. J. Makepiece to Messrs. Shackle & Curb. Nov. 5, 1864. Mr. Henry Harford Messrs. Shackle & Curb to Mr. J. Makepiece. Nov. 2, 1864. Mr. Jabez Israel to Mr. Henry Harford. June 9, 1858. Stating that he has discovered a means of making ships impenetrable by shot and shell. Stating that they never give a pedigree till the purchase is completed, and that his name is sufficient to guarantee the genuineness of any picture. Asking whether Mrs. Almond left him a legacy. Asking him to name a price for the picture. Stating that they will be glad to receive particulars of Mr. Bedford Flood's invention. Stating that he has a choice collection of old masters for sale, and requesting inspection. Stating that he has placed the matter in the hands of Messrs. Anchor & Chain. Stating that he must decline to buy the picture upon any terms. Stating that the will is not yet proved. Stating that the lowest price for the Rembrandt is 5007. Mr. Henry Harford to Mr. Jabez Israel. June 21, 1858. Mr. Bedford Flood to Admiralty. May 5, 1871. Mr. Henry Harford to Mr. Jabez Israel. June 8, 1858. Mr. Henry Harford to Mr. J. Fairfield. June 15, 1858. Asking for the pedigree of the picture said to be by Rembrandt. Declining to see Admiral Referring to his visit to Mr. Requesting him to call at 11. Write an alphabetical list of all the proper names, and foreign, Latin, or unusual words in Exercises (B), 6, 7, and 8. CHAPTER IV. BREVITY. IT cannot be too much enforced on the student that brevity should never be sought at the expense of clearness. The prime object of a précis is that it may be read quickly, and not that it may be written quickly. 'Easy writing' is said to be 'hard reading,' and in the same way it may be said that short writing is very often long reading. For instance, to a person who knows the sequence of months as well as their names it is shorter to write '7/9/75' than '7 Sep., 75,' but not much shorter, while the person who reads may have to count the months on his fingers before he arrives at the conclusion that September is the ninth month in the year. At the same time it may be very important to economise time in writing a précis, and even space if it has to be sent abroad by post, and some abbreviations are so well understood as to be read as easily as the words in full, and in some cases, as in the case of Christian names, it would be simply waste of time to write the full word. The fact that Zedekiah is the Christian name of a gentleman is seldom of sufficient importance to require more than the initial. 'Z. Smith' is in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred as useful as 'Zedekiah Smith.' The following list of some of the best known abbreviations is therefore given : Acknowledging receipt. letter instant ledge ledges Ack. rec. or A. r. lře. inst. The names of Government offices may generally be represented by their initials—as Foreign Office by 'F.O.,' India Office by 'I.O.,' Board of Trade by 'B. of T.,' General Post Office by 'G.P.O.,' and some of the well-known Companies in a similar manner, as the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Ship Company by P. and O.' The above and similar abbreviations may be used in any of the exercises in this book, but it is unnecessary to give special exercises for them. Much more important than purely mechanical abbreviations is brevity in words. Two ways of gaining this, though not purely mechanical, are so elementary that exercises in them may well conclude the preliminary course; one is the omission of unnecessary words, and the other the employment of short words for long. |