Lesson 1 of 6
Foundations
Before writing a single stroke, you need two things: a picture of how the system works, and the single principle that drives every rule you'll learn — write what you hear.
Why Forkner?
Shorthand systems trade learning time for top speed. Pitman and Gregg can exceed 200 words per minute in expert hands, but they replace the entire alphabet with abstract strokes and typically take a year or more of serious study. Forkner takes the opposite bargain: it keeps the cursive letters you already write, so you can be taking genuinely useful notes within weeks. Practiced Forkner writers commonly reach 80–120 words per minute — two to three times ordinary handwriting, and faster than almost anyone speaks in a meeting or lecture.
Because it stays close to normal writing, Forkner notes also remain readable months later — a classic complaint about half-learned symbol systems is that yesterday's notes become today's puzzle.
The shape of the system
Everything you'll learn falls into five buckets:
1. Phonetic writing — write sounds, not spellings, and drop silent letters (this lesson).
2. Streamlined letters, dropped vowels — simplified cursive, and omitting short vowels (Lesson 2).
3. Vowel marks — quick ticks and dots that restore vowels when you need them (Lesson 3).
4. Speed symbols — a dash for h that also builds th, ch, sh; a stroke for m; a curve for -ing; capitals reserved for st and trans- (Lesson 4).
5. Brief forms and phrasing — one- or two-letter shortcuts for the most common words, joined into phrases (Lesson 5).
The golden rule: write what you hear
English spelling is full of letters nobody pronounces. Forkner ignores them. From now on, when you write a word, say it in your head and record only the sounds:
Two consequences worth noticing:
Doubled letters collapse. You only hear one sound in letter or miss, so you only write one: t, not tt.
C splits into its real sounds. Write k when c sounds hard (can → kn) and s when it sounds soft (city → sty).
Set up your practice
Tools: a pen that glides (gel or fountain), and ruled paper. The line matters — several Forkner marks live above the line, so always practice on ruled paper.
Cursive check: Forkner is written in joined cursive. If your cursive is rusty, spend a few minutes a day reconnecting your letters — neatness matters less than flow.
Routine: 10–15 minutes daily. A good session: 2 minutes warming up letters, 5 minutes writing the lesson's examples three times each, 5 minutes writing random words phonetically, 3 minutes reading yesterday's notes back. Reading your own shorthand is half the skill.
Write it out
Quizzes test whether you know the rule; only your pen tests whether you can use it. Get your ruled notebook, work each set straight through without peeking, then open the answer key and mark your own paper. Anything you missed goes at the top of tomorrow's page.