CIRCLE S
A vowel may come between the Circle S and the stroke (e.g. sap, pass), or the two may be run together (e.g. spa, apse). The outline gives no indication of this, unless vocalised. In this respect the Circle S differs from the R and L hooks which generally represent a compound consonant e.g. PL and PR.
Circle S is written:
- Anticlockwise to straight strokes
- Inside curves
- Outside an angle
sap spa apse pass sub bus abs sit stay eats teas
sad ads days such choose sage juice
sack sky axe case sag guess eggs hose (=upward Hay) ways yes
Between two similar straight strokes, still anti-clockwise, the same as you would write it if the first stroke was the only one:
decide disdain tacit testy precept exact cask bespoke Busby
safe face sphere save voice Seth thaws seethe this
size cease sash shows sign snow nice inns
same maze aims smile simile songs sir ears
passer passive possess basin bosom design flotsam
cousin chasm chosen adjacent adjustment reason resume
Between two curves that have the same motion, follow that motion:
evasive fasten lissom listen unsafe muscle nicely noiseless
If the curves have opposite motions, the circle generally goes clockwise, often (but not always) resulting in the circle being outside the angle:
mason massive season unsolved arising
facile but facility, vacillate but vacillated, insulate but insulated
What you should NOT do with Circle S is make a sudden change of direction; this somewhat awkward joining is used very sparingly, being reserved for indicating:
- An R Hook on a following straight stroke, where the hook cannot be shown in any other way; however, after P and B the R hook is omitted for convenience (if it were shown, it would look too much like a Stee loop):
describe discretion disagree discourage R omitted in: prescribe subscribe
- Stroke Hay medially, in order to differentiate between Hay and Circle S:
anyhow, any such, upheld passer-by
Between M-N and N-M, in derivative words, the circle should remain with its original curve:
miss missing, seemly unseemly, mince mincemeat
some noisome (=annoy+some), noise noise-maker
Outside an angle:
With hooks
Where the circle and hook would individually be written on the same side of the stroke, when you wish to show both, the circle must be written INSIDE the hook. Theoretically, circle is extra small and the hook remains its normal size; in practice the hook generally needs to be ever so slightly larger to avoid ink blobbing, and the circle can be flattened into a tiny loop (it is not a Stee loop which are never used inside hooks). Do not let your small hooks grow in size and get confused with the larger hooks (Shun, and L Hook on curves).
L Hook: supple splay settle saddle satchel sickle safflower soufflé civil
R & N Hooks to curves: suffer sever summer mains signer nines fines vines
F/V Hook: puff puffs cuff cuffs tough toughs
Kway (Gway): square squash squeal squeeze consequence
(Gway could take Circle S but no examples found)
Way: use Circle S with Way for those words when Circle Sway is not possible:
way sway persuade but swerve swayed
Wel: does not take Circle S, instead discard the hook and use Sway Circle on stroke Ell:
well swell
Whay Whel Yay: do not take an initial Circle S
Where there is a vowel between a final F/V and S, this is generally a plural of an outline that is already written with full strokes:
cave caves, cavy cavies, buff buffs, bevy bevies
tiff tiffs, toffee toffees, Dave Dave's, Davey Davey's
A medial Circle S does not indicate a hook purely by its direction, because the direction of the circle is used only for convenience. In many cases a medial hook can be shown as well, with the circle following the motion of the hook:
bicycle express listener display miscreant unschooled inscrutable
Small Shun Hook: Circle S, and Circle S following N hook, can both be followed by the small shun hook
composition compensation decision condensation transition
On a straight stroke, the R or N Hook is closed up to make a circle. Both are thus indicated, because that is not the usual side/direction for an initial or final circle:
R: spay spray, sub sobriety, stay stray, sky screw
N: pays pains, toes tones, choose chance, Joe's John's
N: guess gains, rays rains, ways wanes, yes yens
Medial circles Between two straight strokes the hook should be shown, the circle following the direction of the hook. Medial circles use the direction that is most convenient, so the direction cannot be reversed to indicate any hooks, unlike at the beginning and ends of strokes (apart from the necessity to choose the direction for legibility, it would also not be clear whether the plain circle, if so used, meant an N Hook on the first stroke, or an R Hook on the second stroke):
prosper destroy district excursion corkscrew
If there is a vowel after the N sound, use stroke En so that it can be vocalised. The presence of the stroke N lets you know there is a vowel, so vocalisation is normally unnecessary:
bones bonus, tens tennis, chines Chinese, mines minus
The combination S-CH-R is not found standing alone in any English word, therefore this outline is used for the stroke downward Hay. Should such a combination appear in a new word or name, it would be have to be written with stroke Ar after the S-CH, or stroke Ess plus Cher if the word began with a vowel. However, this sequence of sounds can be written in the middle of a word, providing the S is shown inside the hook, thus avoiding clashing with the downward Hay:
beseech beseecher Abraham
Circle S can be added to final Stee and Ster loops and Circle SES:
posts posters exercises
Read first and last
In case of difficulty, mentally remove the circle and then read the outline correctly, before mentally adding the S back in:
pray spray, upper supper, play splay, apple supply, pint pints, dove doves, roof roofs
fund funds, amount amounts, nine nines, inner sooner, ever sever
Dot "con-" dot "-ing" and dash "-ings" are read first and last, if present:
strict constrict, strain constrain, some consume, dance dancing, rinsing rinsings
When not to use
Use the stroke Ess or Zee when:
(a) there is an initial vowel before the S, or a final vowel after it. The stroke can then be vocalised, although its presence lets you know there is a vowel involved:
sack ask, mess messy, seed acid, sense essence
boss bossy, noise noisy, haze hazy, slate isolate
(b) the S is the only consonant sound in the word (because you need somewhere to put the vowel); retain the stroke in derivatives:
ice sigh sighing sighs/size, sea sea-level but sleeve, sea-kale but sickle
(c) the vowel between the S sound and the stroke is a triphone, and in other places to distinguish from plurals:
signs science, virtues virtuous, heirs heiress, Jews Jewess, dangers dangerous
S versus Z sound
Initially, the sound is S; medially and finally the sound can be S or Z:
seep piece/peas same mace/maze
Final NS and NZ sound after a curve are differentiated by using:
- Hook N for NZ – generally a plural, but not always
- Stroke En for NS – generally a word that can be used as a verb, and therefore needs to have easy derivatives
NZ: fen fens NS: fence – fences fenced fencing fencer
NZ: vine vines NS: evince – evinces evinced evincing evincible
NZ: mean means NS: mince – minces minced mincing mincer
NZ: nine nines NS: announce – announces announced announcing announcer
NZ: line lines NS: lance - lances lanced lancing lancer lancet
Note: lens lenses As lens is singular, despite its Z sound, stroke N and Circle Ses have to be used for the plural, and there is no such word as "lences" for the plural to clash with.
More examples of NS verses NZ:
thins thence, shines conscience, salines silence
Pauline's opulence, vines Venice, Essenes essence
Those with a linguistic interest may notice that words like mince/mints are pronounced identically, but perceived differently. "Mints" is halved to indicate the T, as the T sound is part of the original word; the T sound in "mince" is the first part of the S sound (if you removed it the word would sound like "minz"):
mint mints mince, fent fents fence, silent silents silence
comment comments commence, dent dents dense
assistant assistants assistance, chant chants chance
This is a timely reminder that (a) shorthand dictation must be undertaken intelligently, and the meaning followed while writing, and (b) Pitman's Shorthand is not designed to be entirely phonetic, it only needs to indicate which word was spoken.
Why Circle S and Ses include the Z sound
The S sound can change into the Z sound in plurals and genitives, but when it does, it is not changing the word into a different word. The circle is used to represent both in order to preserve the general shape of the outline and to allow its consistent use for plurals and genitives:
house (noun) = "hous"
houses (plural) = "houziz"
house (verb), hows (plural noun) = "houz"
house's (genitive) = "housiz"
Consistent and easy outlines are achieved, but at the expense of some words such as mace/maze peace/peas where the S and Z sounds signify different words. The longhand has solved the problem, in only using the letter Z and sometimes letter C, to show othe difference. The shorthand has partly solved this problem in a similar manner, with the aim of writing words briefly and reliably, rather than strictly phonetically. Shorthand does not always preserve the basic outline when forming derivatives, but as plurals and genitives cover so many words, the advantages of allowing Circles S to do duty for both S and Z sounds outweigh the disadvantages.
Suggestion for advanced writers: if you have constant trouble in your line of work with certain pairs of outlines, you can choose to use stroke Zee finally for Z-words (as long as you are aware this it is not an official outline) but you may wish to indicate that there is no following vowel, by using a short vertical line parallel to the stroke, or some other mark of your choosing. Such idiosyncracies should be strictly limited by necessity, and given very careful consideration before adoption. As always, keep a note of your departure from the normal rules. You cannot adopt any such method if you wish to teach shorthand!
An initial Z sound has to use the stroke, even though no vowel comes before it:
zeal zebra zenith zero zest zinc zip zone zoologist