Phrasing 8 – Intersections

It is never vocalised.
It can take Circle S to form plurals/possessive.
If the intersection word comes before, it is written through or adjacent to the first stroke of the main outline. If the intersected word comes after, it is written through or adjacent to the last stroke. The strokes should still be written in the order that they are spoken, even if the intersection comes first.
Where both words in a phrase can be intersections, it is preferable to write the first as the full outline and intersect the second one, making it easier to place the intersection.
The position of the main outline or phrase is as normal, it is not influenced by the intersection.
The intersected stroke may be written in proximity when more convenient. When written in proximity, it is sometimes possible to also place it in position to indicate its vowel e.g. Bs through the line for "biz" = "business".
Two intersections can be written through each other, but these need to be very common or obvious phrases, as the resultant phrase will contain minimal information.

Those commonly given in instruction books are marked with an asterisk*. The others may be considered for adoption, depending on how useful you consider them to be in your line of work or interest. Sometimes an intersection is only useful for a single phrase e.g. House of Commons, bona fide.

New intersections can be made at will to suit your own requirements, preferably after completing your learning of the system and when your shorthand is being used in a real-life situation (rather than an exam) where the subject matter is likely to have its own set of common phrases or technical/jargon words. You should consider carefully whether a new intersection will remain legible and that no clashes are possible. It is helpful to keep them listed in your resource file so that you can review and revise from time to time.

There is no need to assimilate all of those shown, as many are of specialist use only, and unlikely to occur in a shorthand exam. In any case, the slower speeds in exams may require textbook shorthand, rather than personalised or advanced intersections and abbreviations. A seldom-used or half-remembered intersection is more likely to produce hesitation than time saving.

Intersections should not be used haphazardly as a way of avoiding consulting the dictionary and learning the correct outline, but in a difficult moment a hasty untried intersection or part of an outline is better than leaving a gap.

STROKE	FULL OUTLINE	INTERSECTION
P	party* policy Proximity only: per cent per annum	political party, birthday party, Christmas party, office party council policy, government policy, insurance policy, company policy 5%, 10% per annum, five per cent Use the intersection only after a numeral, but in full after an outline, as in longhand
Pr	professor	Professor Smith, professor of music, music professor
Pl	application	to make application, many applications, enclosed application
Pn	punishment	corporal punishment, school punishment, necessary punishment
Ps	apparatus	heating apparatus, electrical apparatus, scientific apparatus
Ps	purpose	for the purpose, for the purposes, for these purposes, for those purposes *These two are sometimes shown as F+Ps, not intersected, thus omitting "the", but the plural of that version could be ambiguous, making equal sense with or without "the" any other purpose, primary purpose, for many purposes If you felt this might clash with another use of Ps, could use PPs instead
sPr	superintendent	chief superintendent, railway superintendent superintendent of works, superintendent of police
PM	period of time	for some period of time, during this period of time, various periods of time
B	bank* bill bishop Top of page	national bank, bank charges, river bank, Thames Embankment Parliamentary Bill, Finance Bill* * "finance" can also be pronounced "fye-" so you could write this outline above the line Bishop of York, Bishop of London (See Contractions Optional for archbishop)
Bs	business* See Phrasing 4/Omission/business for other joined versions	daily business, business contact, any business, any other business printing business, terms of business, business references, business practice
T	attention*	for your attention, paying attention, immediate attention, undivided attention draw your attention, draw your immediate attention to the matter, call attention to the matter urgent attention, my attention has been called, my attention has been drawn
Tr	alternative	there is no alternative, do we have any alternative, we have no alternative alternative sources, alternative energy, alternative plans Use full outline for "alternate" to avoid ambiguity. alternative = a second choice, option or possibility available alternate = every other one, every second one This comes from Latin "alter" = other, one of two
Tl	telephone	Suggested intersection, based on the common longhand abbreviation "Tel" : telephone message, answer the telephone, telephone call
Tv/Tf	television	Suggested intersection: television screen, television signal, television cable, cable television If the person says "TV" or "telly" then you would write that in full: television aerial but TV* screen, telly *Suggest separate T and V strokes, clearer than joining them.
Trf	traffic	motorway traffic, traffic warden, traffic problems
D	department*	sales department, training department, Department of the Environment department manager, departmental manager Do not use the intersection for "departmental" as the meanings are almost identical
Dr	director	company director, director's report board of directors Attach, if intersecting is not practical Use full outline for "director" if you think you might misread it as "doctors"
Dv	dividend division Top of page	declare a dividend, long division, division of labour cellular division, political division, first division, second division
Ch	charge* Chancery* *This was included when intersections were first introduced, as it was assumed reporters would very often be reporting government business.	electrical charge, free of charge, in charge, take charge extra charges, surcharge, Chancery report
J	journal	daily journal, medical journal, financial journal, copy of the journal See Contractions Optional for "journalist"
Jnr	engineer	electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, civil engineer mechanical engineering department, electrical engineer but electrical knowledge* *Don't use plain N-J as an abbreviation for "engineer", as that is the short form for "knowledge".
K	company* council* capital captain* *Choice of full outline or optional contraction	manufacturing company, ballet company, company report from the company, of the company, to the company, in the company county council, city council, council of reference capital city, capital expenditure, capital gains *Compare the position of the intersections in "city council" and "capital city" Captain Jones, Captain Grant, Captain Pitt This intersection best only used with personal names
Kr	corporation colonel The pronounced R of "colonel" is shown in the shorthand instead of the first L of the spelling	broadcasting corporation, publishing corporation Colonel James, Lieutenant Colonel See also Phrasing 2/corps where the Kr is joined, not intersected As K = captain, and Kr = colonel, this leaves "corporal" having to be written in full, although a non-textbook suggestion might be to intersect Kr+P = "Corp".
K+L	company limited	Speedy Company Limited, Design Company Limited If you wanted to signify the shortened version "Co Ltd" you could vocalise the Kay.
G	government*	local government, government policy If necessary, expand to "gov" G+V to distinguish from "company". company report, government report "Gov" is a good non-textbook substitute, quicker than the full outline, and more reliable than the Gay intersection. "Gov" alone is also the short form for govern/governed. Take care with: United States Government, United States of America Here again, "gov" would be more reliable, or you could place the intersection through or above the Ses Circle (non-textbook suggestion)
Gn	beginning*	at the beginning, in the beginning, small beginnings at the beginning of the year, beginning of the book, from the beginning, from the beginning to the end, from beginning to end
F	form* formed* faithfully* official federal forth Top of page	application form, necessary forms, we have just formed in one form or another, some other form yours faithfully, faithfully yours official papers, official reason, official opening federal reserve, federal offices, federal army = You need to be perfectly sure of the context, because "official" would make sense in all of these. call forth, go forth, come forth See also forth Phrasing2/forth
V	valuation short form	very low valuation, valuation of the property, valuation department* *The second version is quicker
Vn	convenience* convenient*	it will be convenient, it is convenient, if convenient, convenient time at your convenience, at your earliest convenience, public convenience Don't use this intersection through "not" "no" or "any" because that would clash with "inconvenient": inconvenient, it is inconvenient, it is not convenient, it is no convenience Contraction
Ith	authority* month*	local authority, military authority, we have the authority railway authority many months, for months, few months some months, some months ago, summer months month of March, twelve months, in a month's time from month to month, several months, seven months See also Phrasing 4 Omission/month where the stroke Ith is joined
S	society* scientific Australia	musical society, agricultural society, drama society society of musicians, musicians' society, building society, artists' society Writing the intersection alongside makes it clear that that word comes last. scientific research, scientific papers, scientific experiments government of Australia, Northern Australia, Western Australia
Sn	Australian	Australian English, Australian customs, Australian government
Ish+s	assurance*	life assurance, life assurance policy compare life insurance
M	mark* market morning* manager* minister Major America mentioned Top of page	trade mark, water mark, dirty marks, mark of respect financial markets, market conditions, farmers' market, cattle market this morning, yesterday morning, tomorrow morning, Monday morning See also Phrasing 2/afternoon evening sales manager, general manager, team manager, club manager Minister for Defence, Education Minister, minister of religion * "Min" can be used as an alternative, or you could use M for minister, and Min for ministry, as long as you are consistent in how you use them Major Brown, Pipe Major, Drum Major "Major General" should be in written full, as an intersection would be the same as "general manager" above, and writing the stroke Em over the top would look too much like "majority". See also sergeant major in Contractions Optional South America, North and South America but United States of America above-mentioned, I have mentioned, it was mentioned, it has been mentioned it should be mentioned, before-mentioned, afore-mentioned
s+M	similar*	similar reasons, similar reaction, very similar, or similar Must be clearly intersected, and not written adjacent, so it does not look like "some" or "same". same reasons, some reasons These could also be phrased See also Contractions Optional/dissimilar
N	enquire enquired enquiry (also spelled inquiry, with third place dot) national* industry	I will enquire, we have enquired, we have made enquiries for your enquiry, in reply to your enquiry national newspapers, national affairs, national production But national importance in full, compare unimportant heavy industry, steel industry, iron and steel industry, rural industry The Circle S looks looped, but that is because it is written between curved strokes. A Stee Loop would never occupy such a position.
Ns	insurance*	insurance papers, insurance policy life insurance, necessary insurances, fire insurance company, third party insurance
N+Shun	communication	in/any communication, regular communication, communication system, communication difficulties Must be clearly intersected, and not written adjacent, so that it does not look like the short form "information". regular information, information system See also Phrasing 2/information
Ing	angle	sharp angle, wide angle, obtuse angle right angle, at right angles, angle of attack See also Phrasing 2/right angle
L	limited* liberal lieutenant (English and American pronunciations respectively)	limited company, And Sons Limited, Dance Company Limited Liberal candidate, Liberal manifesto, Liberal Party As these two words above have opposite meanings, it is probably best to use the "liberal" intersection for political terms only. Non-textbook suggestion: for greater safety you could interesect L+B instead. Lieutenant Brown compare Lord Brown Best only used with a personal name
Ar	arrange* arranged* arrangement*	I have arranged, make arrangements, will you please arrange the matter necessary arrangements, formal arrangements, wedding arrangements
Ray	require* required* requirement* railway royal already recollection Top of page	I will require, you may require, we have required I know the requirements, their requirements, they are required, they are requiring railway station, railway carriage, railway lines, railway authority* See also authority above royal family, royal throne, royal jewels Don't use this for "royal carriage", as it may be misread "railway carriage" The "already" intersection is best used attached to a following verb: we have already seen, we have already done, it has already been which is already being, I have already found, I have already said I have already referred, I have already received* compare I have referred, I have received *Note the intersected Ray represents "already" and not the R of "referred" or "received" best of my recollection, best of our recollection, best of your recollection
Rf	referring	referring to your letter, referring to your call, referring to my recent report
s+Ray	conservative	conservative estimate, conservative figure, conservative total Conservative Party
Hay Way Wel		Hay, Way and Wel, like all strokes, can be used for any term that you are dealing with on a regular basis within a particular field of work/interest. These few suggestions are given to illustrate the general method, but you would not use them in a shorthand exam as there would be insufficient context and reading back would be approaching guesswork: hypodermic needle, hydraulic pump, hydrogen peroxide, helicopter pilot walking club, wedding dress, weather forecast, welfare support
Yay	yield united unanimous unanimously	higher yield, average yield, regular yield, yield per annum United Nations, United Dairy Company Limited See Contractions Optional for "United Kingdom, United States" carried unanimously, unanimous vote, unanimous decision* *See also Phrasing 2/unanimous As the meaning is similar to "united", only use for well-known "unanimous" phrases.
One-offs	Top of page	leader of the opposition, speaking from memory, vote of thanks bona fide, in the fullness of time, pro forma Not to be confused with for the first time/Phrasing 5 public library, hire purchase, by return of post House of Commons, House of Lords, in the House of Commons, in the House of Lords Note that these do not show the final S

"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things." (Philippians 4:8)

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