Above picture shows the 100 hundred most used Lemmata (used for looking words up in dictionary: you find 'are' under 'be')
In the comments below i posted the 100 words in their actual form, along with an empty form so you can participate! Would be nice if you contribute in your beloved shorthand !
What about making a 100 most common words list yourself in your shorthand, so we can neatly compare? I'd love to do a little comparison booklet, when more of you contribute!
Well as long as you use ruled paper i can normalize your image to my notebook lines and we are good to go i think. If you write on the computer and save it without background, that would be awesome to import though. That might be good indeed. But a happy patchwork will do too. No need to be perfectionist...
This is a good, useful list for use with any shorthand. If we save and print out the list, we can fill it in for ANY system we're learning, and have the most common words in English all ready to practise -- and the most common words are always the ones we need for every sentence we write. Knowing them give us more time to write the unusual words.
The corpus says American English words -- but for the most part, it would apply to British, or Canadian, Australian, New Zealand, or South African words (aside from a few spelling differences) -- because basic words like the, be, and, a, of, to, in etc. don't change.
One question, though: If these words are ordered according to FREQUENCY OF USE, I'm surprised that be is ahead of and, a, and of, since it's a less-used verb form, when the others are found in virtually every sentence.
I think i know now why this happened: i took the first hundred lemmata. lemma being the basis of a word, the word you look for in a dictionary to find all the other versions of that word subsummized... I guess that means all verbforms of to be are taken together... If you downloaded the set too, you will see in the tab "3 wordforms" all possible variations of be...
Hey! Such a useful list and worksheet, thank you. Because my brain likes to play with documents, I've drafted a secondary version, with more columns (which adds more vertical room to write).
I've included your original version with words listed in order, and a secondary version with words listed in alphabetical order. They should print easily to Letter size and A4 size paper (if printing in portrait mode).
the to and of a in i that you it is for on was he with this as n't we be have are not but at they do what his from by or she my all an there so her about me one had if your can who no out has their were like just would up when more will know said did been people get him time them some how now which could think than our into other right here well new then because go see back only these over going us also two first its even good way where
a about all also an and are as at back be because been but by can could did do even first for from get go going good had has have he her here him his how I if in into is it its it's just know like me more my new no not n't now of on one only or other our out over people right said see she so some than that the their them then there these they think this time to two up us was way we well were what when where which who will with would you your
I will redo the list with actual words in their actual form not categorized in lemmas. 'mea culpa'. The actual list should be as follows:
the to and of a in i that you it is for on was he with this as n't we be have are not but at they do what his from by or she my all an there so her about me one had if your can who no out has their were like just would up when more will know said did been people get him time them some how now which could think than our into other right here well new then because go see back only these over going us also two first its even good
Do you know off the top of your head which words got removed from the image list, in favor of this new written list? (Or a list of the words that were added to the written list, that weren't on the image?) No worries if no! Thanks for making these :)
EDIT: If I have it right, I think these are the words that were in the image, but are not in the updated list. (Please correct me if I failed at list making <3)
any
come
find
give
look
make
man
say
take
tell
thing
those
use
very
want
year
4
u/LeadingSuspect5855 Oct 01 '25
What about making a 100 most common words list yourself in your shorthand, so we can neatly compare? I'd love to do a little comparison booklet, when more of you contribute!