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Top 100 English Words in Plover's Dictionary
What they are and why they are like that
When learning steno theory, you might be confused by the fact that many common words are not written out phonetically. There are many reasons that this is the case, but it boils down to:
- Avoiding word boundary errors
- Ease of stroking
The most common word in the English language is reserved to just one key, right-hand -T. The right hand position makes it easy to combo as the second word in many combination phrases, for example SKP-T for "and the".
Right-hand -B. The "B" key in Plover just happens to be the "be" key. How convenient! Writing out "be" like PWE is the word part "be^", like in "beware" or "belated". And the phonetic PWAOE is "bee"!
Written out by spelling, TO. Easy to hit and free of conflicts. Warning: O for "to" in the default dictionary is a misstroke and is not free from word boundaries.
Right-hand -F. Simple one key stroke, and frees up OF to be used for "off".
SKP-. An easy to hit stroke with only the left hand, making it a good candidate for starting phrases, like SKPU for "and you".
AEU. Rather than just A, which is used as a prefix for words like "affix" or "arrive". The tense A sound is used to avoid conflicts. In some theories, these strokes are mixed, and you could likely safely swap them if you wanted.
TPH is just the left-hand N. This combination frees up EUPB to be used for the "in^" prefix like in
"indoors". Also good for phrases, such as TPH-T for "in the".
THA. We drop the ending T to bring this stroke into the left hand for use at the beginning of phrases. Examples: THAR for "that are", THAT for "that the".
SR-; left-hand V. The phonetic version of this would be HA*F which is much harder to stroke for such a common word, and the left-hand makes right-hand phrase parts feel more natural, like SR-T for "have the".
HAF and HA*F get mapped to "half" and "1/2" in the default dictionary, respectively.
EU; the I chord. This is a nonphonetic stroke to give space for "eye". It's easy to hit and fits in some phrases, such as SKPEU for "and I". Note that, in some cases, you will use the AOEU cluster for I, such as in "I'll" (AOEUL) and "I'm" (AOEUPL) because the shorter versions are used for other things, in this case "ill" and the word beginning "im^".
Left-hand T-, easy to hit and on the left hand for beginning phrases such as TWAS for "it was". Same pattern as for "in" and "if".
TP-R (F-R). Drops the vowel to save effort for such a common word.
TPHOT
OPB
W-. Another easy to use single key stroke that can begin phrases like WOUR for "with our" and W-T for "with the".
HE, stroke given by spelling. Recommended over the E-only version for most cases, but depending on the phrase or word you might need E (SKPE: and he), HE (HEBGD: he could), and HAOE (HAO*EL: he'll)
AS (spelling) or AZ (phonetic)
U. The U key is used for "you". Can be used in phrases such as SKPU for "and you".
TKO (spelling). Don't drop the vowel, because TK- alone is used for "did".
AT
TH. "This" is a special case, as it's basically set to TH for convenience and to open up the opportunity for several other briefs. For example, THEU is used for "think", and THEUS follows as "thinks".
Also works in phrases: TH-FS for "this was"
PWUT or PWU. Mirabai uses PWUT as "but" and that is okay, but you can safely remap PWUT to "but the" if you want to use PWU as "but" exclusively.
HIS (spelling), HIZ (phonetic)
PWEU. Nonphonetic mapping to make room for PWAOEU: "buy". Add an asterisk to "by" and get the word beginning "bi^", add an asterisk to "buy" and get "bye".
TPR- (F-R). Similar to "for" (TP-R), but instead of dropping just the vowel, we drop the ending -M sound as well. This opens up "from" to phrases, like in TPRUS for "from us" and TPR-T for "from the" and TPREUPHT for "from time to time".
THE. Since "the" is stroked with just -T, we can place "they" in this stroke. It's important not to use THAEU to avoid potential conflict when we get to "they're" and "their".
WE (spelling) or WAOE (phonetic)
SAEU (phonetic).
Advanced: Also present as a right-hand only shortcut as -BZ, such as THEBZ for "they say". Get the past tense with -BS such as THEBS for "they said".
HER
SHE (spelling) or SHAOE (phonetic)
OR. The phonetic version is given instead to "ore" (OER).
APB
HR-, left-hand L. Useful for phrases, such as HR-B for "will be" and HRU for "will be".
PHEU or PHAOEU. We break phonetic convention to offer an easier to hit stroke.
WUPB (phonetic)
AUL (phonetic). This vowel is common in the Plover dictionary, such as in WAUL (wall) and PWAUL (ball).
WO. Left-hand-only brief is useful for phrases: WOB for "would be" and WOU for "would you".
THR-. This brief is used to avoid conflict with THER for "they're".
THAEUR (phonetic). The homophone "they're" is stroked with THER which is the brief THE for "they" with -R added on.
WHA. Similar to THA for "that", WHAT is "what the".
SO (spelling)
UP. Use AUP for the word beginning "up^" like AUP/WARDS for "upwards".
OUT. Use AOUT for the word beginning "out^" like AOUT/SPOEBG/*EN for "outspoken" or AOUT/RAEUPBLG for "outrage".
TP-. The bare left F is used for "if". Good as a phrase beginner, such as TP-T for "if the". Same pattern as "it" and "in".
PW-. The left-hand B is used for "about" as a convenient brief. Some theories do this word differently. One nice benefit of being on the left side is, of course, phrases: PW-T for "about the".
WHO (spelling). We can't use HAOU (hue) or HAO (hoo).
TKPWET or TKPW-T
WEU. Just a brief.
TKPWO (spelling), TKPWOE (phonetic), or just TKPW.
PHE (spelling), PHAOE (phonetic). As with many of these common words, being less strict on the vowel gives your fingers a potential break.
WH (brief) or WHEPB (spelling)
PHAEUBG (MAIK) (phonetic)
The left-hand K- only, useful for phrases. K-B (can be).
HRAOEUBG (phonetic)
TAOEUPL (phonetic)
TPHO (spelling). The phonetic version is saved for "know".
SKWRUFT. Remember that -F is sometimes used for S.
HEUPL
TPHOE (phonetic)
TAEUBG (phonetic)
PAOEPL. In this case -PL is used for the "pl" sound instead of -M.
TPHAO. TPH- is "in", and AO is sometimes used for oo which sounds liked the vowel in "into". Can't use TPHAOU as it is being used by "knew".
KWRAOER (phonetic)
KWROUR (spelling). Don't use KWRUR as that's the word ending ^ur like in KHROES/KWRUR (closure).
TKPWAOD
SOPL. As a word beginning, S- and SPH- are used: for example, SPH-PB for "someone" and S-G for "something".
KO. Brief like WO for "would".
THEPL
SAOE
OER. Shows up as a word part, like in TPHOER for "another".
THAPB (spelling)
THEPB (spelling)
TPHOU
HRAOBG
OEPBL. In Plover's dictionary, E is often added to strokes to make them end with an "ee" sound. OEPBL can be thought of as "onl/ee". Lots of briefs use this, such as KRAER for "contrary" and TPAEPL for "family".
KOPL
EUTS. T-S is used for "it's".
OEFR. Emphasizing the tense-O sound to contrast with OFR for "offer". To use as a prefix, use AUFR, such as AUFR/TKOPB for "overdone".
THEU (brief), with a whole family: THEUS for "thinks", THEUG for "thinking".
HR-S (brief)
PWABG
AFT. To use as a prefix, use AFR, such as AFR/TAEUFT for "aftertaste".
AOUS or AOUZ
TWO (spelling)
HOU
OUR
WORBG
TPEUFRT. In this word, the -F and -R have been reserved, and -F is used as S.
WEL
WAEU
AOEPB or AOEFPB. Dropping the -F makes this stroke easier to hit.
TPHU. Briefed to avoid conflict with TPHAOEU for "knew".
WAPBT
PWAUS or PWAUZ (briefs)
TPHEU (brief)
THEZ (brief) or THAOES/THAOEZ (phonetic). The brief is much easier to hit.
TKPWEUF. No need for an asterisk, which is often the case with common words in the Plover dictionary.
TKAEU (phonetic)
PHOFT, PHOEFT, PHO*ES, or PHO*S. Go with the option you like most.
US (spelling)