BRL: Braille through Remote Learning

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  • Whole-word Contractions
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  • Session 6: Whole-word initial-letter contractions

    There are 33 initial-letter whole-word contractions. These contractions are two-cell contractions -- the initial letter of the word (or initial letters, such as "ch", "th", "wh", or "ou", which will be introduced later in discussions on part-word contractions!) preceded by one of several dot combinations - Dot 5, Dots 4-5, or Dots 4-5-6:

    width

    Contraction Dot 5 (22 words) Dots 4-5 (5 words) Dots 4-5-6 (6 words)
    cannot     14
    character 516    
    day 5145    
    ever 515    
    father 124    
    had     456125
    here 5125    
    know 513    
    lord 5123    
    many     456134
    mother 5134    
    name 51345    
    one 5135    
    ought 51256    
    part 1234    
    question 12345    
    right 51235    
    some 5234    
    spirit     456234
    their     4562346
    there 2346    
    these   452346  
    those   451456  
    through 51456    
    time 52345    
    under 136    
    upon   136  
    where 156    
    whose   156  
    word   452456  
    work 2456    
    world     2456
    young 13456    

    The rules for these contractions are simple: if they appear as whole words, you should use the contraction. They can be used in contact with either punctuation symbols or with composition signs such as capital or italic signs. If the whole word is in all caps, the double capital composition sign should be used.

    The rules for the use of these contractions as part-word contractions are a little more complicated. The focus here, however, is for you to develop familiarity with these contractions in the more simple whole-word usage.




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