
       LESSON 12:  INITIAL-LETTER CONTRACTIONS USING DOTS 4-5 AND 4-5-6
                                 ITALICS SIGN


SECTION I:  INITIAL-LETTER CONTRACTIONS 
Part I:  Information

1.  Introduction

As you have already learned, initial-letter contractions utilize two braille 
cells.  In Lesson 11, you learned those initial-letter contractions that are 
preceded by dot 5.  In this module, you will learn those that are preceded by
dots 4-5 and 4-5-6.

      Dots 4-5:                       Dots 4-5-6:
      upon          word              cannot        world

      these         those             had           many

      whose                           spirit        their

2.  Initial-letter contractions should be used

2.1 either as words or as parts of words as long as they retain their
original sound.

    EXAMPLES:     world-wide         wordy      foreword

                  spiritual         worldly

2.2 Remember that if you have a choice between using a one-cell contraction or
a two-cell contraction, use the one-cell contraction, unless use of the two-
cell contraction would result in saving space.  For example where letters "d,
r, or n" follow (one) or (here), the contractions for "ed, er and en" should
be used in preference to the contractions for (one) and (here).

    EXAMPLES:     wherever             zoned            haddock

3 An initial-letter contraction should not be used if its use would alter 
the pronunciation of a digraph or a trigraph.

    EXAMPLE:    sph(er)e    NOT    sp(here)

2.4 Where a choice must be made between two contractions to avoid mis-spell
ings, use the contraction which would better indicate correct pronunciation.

    EXAMPLES:    te(the)r(ed)    NOT    te(there)d
                 sev(er)e        NOT    s(ever)e
                 Mortim(er)      NOT    Mor(time)r
                 di(spirit)(ed)  NOT    (dis)pirit(ed)


When you are ready to continue onto the practice exercises press Esc to return
to the submenu and make a selection.


Part II:  Print to Braille Exercises
1.  Many a time our spirits were low during the voyage, but it was all soon
    forgotten once we spotted land.
2.  People can communicate through `body language' without uttering a single
    word.
3.  My poor teenage daughters acted as if their world had come to an end
    when they heard his concert tour was called off.
4.  Those of us who received word of our boss's surprise visit got right
    back to work.
5.  Every winter my father fishes for swordfish off the coast of Florida.
6.  I cannot understand how people can continue to put up with all this
    traffic on their way to work everyday.
7.  Mimi gave us her word that she would not divulge the particulars of the
    plan to those who would be most affected.
8.  "Isn't he the most handsomest man in the whole world!" Claire bragged of
    her boyfriend.
9.  The spirited young matador displayed great skill and composure inside
    the ring, but showed little character outside it.
10. He packed up his worldly goods--many of which were gifts from Lords and
    Ladies--and departed for a world unknown across the sea.
11. The briefcase is owned by someone whose initials are J.B.H.
12. Walking near the shoreline we happened upon a small group of children
    constructing the most magnificent sand castle I had ever seen.
13. Although the bin was full of watermelons, these two looked to be the
    only ones worth eating.
14. "I cannot take many more days like this without any relief from the
    heat!" complained my sister to the AC repair man.
15. Ira Kott, whose name appears at the top of the memo, insists that these
    two tires were not the ones he ordered.

Part III:  Braille to Print Exercises
1.  The chief value of money lies in the fact that one lives in a world in
    which it is overestimated.
2.  Matthew can compress the most words into the smallest idea of any man I ever
    met.
3.  Those who would--cannot, and those who can--would not.
4.  Building upon daily victories will ensure future successes.
5.  A great many people believe they are thinking, when in fact, they are
    merely rearranging their prejudices.
6.  A Radical:  A person whose left hand does not know what his other left
    hand is doing.
7.  He who will not reason, is a bigot; he who cannot is a fool; and he who
    dares not is a slave.
8.  It was W. C. Fields who had said that the cost of living had gone up a-
    nother dollar a quart.
9.  Their spirited defense may only lead to more problems, because many of
    the jurors will be offended.
10. These days it is better to have old secondhand diamonds than none at
    all.
11. Upon hearing that free hors d'oeuvres and beverages were being served
    after the lecture, we decided we could stand another hour of boredom.
12. The contract made it clear as crystal that many of the workers' rights
    were being violated in several ways.
13. Dr. Engelbrecht, whose expert marksmanship was legendary, gave us
    lessons in riflery.
14. We quite often find Sister Imelda in her own little world of spiritual
    bliss.
15. If you cannot make sense of the wording of this policy you had better 
    find someone who can explain it in layman's terms.

Part IV:  Proof Reading Exercises
    Late one afternoon in the summer of 1783, a young indian beached his canoe
near my Babine Lake campsite in the backwoods of British Columbia.  Clad only in
buckskin, he was tall and muscular, and wore his hair shoulder length.



SECTION II:  ITALICS
Part I:  Information

1.  Introduction

The italic sign is a braille composition sign, along with the capital sign,
the number sign and the letter sign (to be discussed in Lesson 14).  The
italic sign is used in braille, when necessary, to indicate print italics,
boldface, small capital letters, or underlining.

             Single italic sign              Double italic sign
             Dots 4-6                        Dots 4-6, 4-6

2.1 Although italics and other special typefaces are frequently used in
print, they often have little value to the braille reader.  Braille italics
are used only when print uses boldface, underlining, small capital letters or
italics to indicate special emphasis.  For example, the sign is used in:

        Foreign words or phrases
        Names of ships, books, pictures, etc.
        Subject headings at the beginning of paragraphs
        Silent thought as distinguished from conversation
        Passages printed in italics or type different from that of adjacent
           text even though separated from the text by blank lines
                              (Library of Congress, 1984, p.78)

2.2 If special emphasis is indicated sufficiently by others means, then
braille italics should not be used.  For example:

        Where letters that mean letters are preceded by the letter sign
        Where word endings or other portions of words that are printed in
           italics or boldface are shown standing alone or are preceded or
           followed by the hyphen (contractions must not be used in such word
           endings or portions of words)
        Where pronunciations are shown in both parentheses and italics
        Where a list of words or terms is printed in italics or boldface
        Where all chapter titles or other headings, not within the narrative
           text, are printed in italics or boldface
        Where quoted matter is shown in both quotation marks and italics,
           except where italics are required for emphasis or distinction
        In writing of all stage directions, scene settings, etc., in plays
                                  (Library of Congress, 1984, p.78)

NOTE:  This program does not allow for text to be italicized, boldfaced, or
       underlined.  Therefore, during the examples and in the exercises, the
       portions of text that are in italics will be enclosed with brackets
       [the two keys on the keyboard to the immediate right of the `P' key].
       When transcribing, treat anything within the brackets as italics and
       anything to the outside as regular print.

3.  Single Italic Sign

The single italic sign is represented by dots 4-6, and should precede the
word, compound word, abbreviation, or number which is to be italicized.  Re-
member, however, the capital sign must still be placed closest to the letter
or word.  The single italic sign must precede each word when up to three
words are italicized.

EXAMPLES:  [1990-1994]                  [ad hoc]
    [chapter]                   Elvis was [King]


3.1 There are several instances in which it is not necessary to repeat the
italic sign (e.g. after the hyphen in a compound word, after an apostrophe,
or after the first period in an abbreviation, nor should it be repeated at
the beginning of a new line in a divided word).

    EXAMPLES:     [world-reknown]           [brother's]          [p.m.]


3.2 Sometimes print uses small capital letters as a means of distinction,
in such cases, single italics are used rather than the double capital sign.
However, proper names and headings should still be properly capitalized.
The single capital sign should also be used when one or more letters of words
or names appear in larger type than the rest of the text.

    EXAMPLES:     [FIELD OF DREAMS]                       [SS MINNOW]

Italics And Single Letters

If print text shows single letters enclosed in quotation marks or in italics,
both the quotation marks and the italics should be omitted.  Only the letter
sign (to be discussed in a future lesson) should precede the letter.

5. Italics In Plan And Dialogue Format

When brailling special plays and dialogue, italics should NOT be used:

    1.  in all scene settings, stage directions, etc.
    2.  before the names of characters in the cast listing.
    3.  before the names of characters and speakers throughout the play.
    4.  in dialogue unless the italics are necessary to show voice emphasis


This concludes the information on the Italic Sign.  When you are ready, press
Esc to return to the Submenu and the practice exercises.

Part II:  Print to Braille Exercises
1.  Jae wanted to come [after] the new baby had arrived.
2.  [What NOW?] Walen wondered anxiously.
3.  Ruben launched himself into the debate, certain that [The Civil War] was
    just as cruel as the [Second World War].

Part III:  Braille to Print Exercises
1.  The [k] in [knife] is silent.
2.  My favorite cat book is [Fur Person].
3.  "I'm sending you a birthday present--[spend] it, don't [hoard] it!" his
    mother chided.

Part IV:  Proof Reading Exercises
I am fascinated by the octopus whose success as a hunter combines use of sucker-
bearing arms and the use of poison.

SECTION III:   DOUBLE ITALIC SIGN
Part I:  Information

The double italic sign is represented by dots 4-6, 4-6 unspaced.  This sign
should be used when more than three words are to be italicized, and it should
precede the first word of the italicized series.  The last word should be pre-
ceded by the single italic sign to indicate that it is the final word in the
italicized series.  Remember that the italic sign need not be repeated after
a hyphen in a hyphenated compound word.  If the last word of an italicized
passage of four or more words happens to be a hyphenated compound word, the
closing single italic sign should be place in front of that compound word.
    EXAMPLES:     [Once upon a time]             [It sure beats working]

Sometimes a change of type or underlining may occur within an italicized
passage.  When this occurs, the italics should be terminated with the word
before the type change.  When the regular italicized portion continues, the
appropriate italics sign should be used.  In the following example the
type change is indicated with all captital letters.


    EXAMPLE:    [She felt a comforting warmth when she saw that lovable
             bear, remembering] THE HOUSE AT POOH CORNER [and how she
             enjoyed those stories as a child].

1.  Italicized Passages Of More Than One Paragraph

When more than one paragraph is italicized, place the double italics sign at
the beginning of each paragraph and the single italics sign only in front of
the last word of the last paragraph.

2.  Series Of Book Titles Or Other Publications

When a series of book titles or other publications is italicized in print,
each title in the series should be treated as a separate entity.  This means
that the double italic sign should precede all titles containing 4 or more
words with the single italic sign preceding the last word in the titles.  Use
the single italic sign before each word in a title containing 3 or fewer words

3.  Items Italicized For Different Reasons

Consecutive items that are italicized for different reasons should be itali-
cized separately.  When several book titles follow one another separated only
by punctuation, each should be italicized separately.

4.  Italics With Lower Signs

Although the italic sign contains a dot 4, it is not considered as either an
upper sign or a lower sign, but as a special composition sign.  Therefore, it
does not change the application of any of the rules concerning lower signs.
For example, if the italicized word [contemplate] is divided at the end of a
line, the (con) sign cannot be used because the (con) sign followed by a hy-
phen would constitute two consecutive lower signs, neither of which is in
contact with an upper sign (one containing dots 1 or 4).

EXAMPLES:        [con-                         [be-  
          sternate]                      lief]

The whole-word lower signs (be, his, was, were, in, enough) may be preceded by
either the capital sign or the italic sign or both.

EXAMPLES:    [Was that great]!                 [Where were you]?

These whole-word lower signs may not come in contact with any punctuation,
however.  This rule still holds even when the italic sign is used.

    EXAMPLES:    [Where will you be]?               [Enough is enough]!

5.  Italics with TO, INTO and BY

These contractions may be both preceded and followed by the italic sign, just
as in the case of the capital sign.  Remember that the single italics must be
repeated in word series of 3 or less, even those (to, into, by) connected to
the following words.  
EXAMPLES:
    [To be or not to be].                          [into the night]

6.  Italics with AND, FOR, OF, THE, WITH and A

These words should not be joined if puntuation or any of the composition
signs, such as the italics sign, intervene.

    EXAMPLE:    [and with you]

If only the first word of the these succeeding conjunctions or articles is
italicized then it should be joined to the following one.

    EXAMPLE:    [with] the best of them

7.  Capitalized Or Italicized Portions Of Words And The Termination Sign

Sometimes only a part of a word is capitalized, italicized, or underlined in
print.  Usually in this case, hyphens should be inserted in braille to set a-
part the capitalized, italicized, or underlined part of the word.

EXAMPLES:    unBElievable              letter[head]              HIGHchair

7.  The Termination Sign

In general literature the termination sign, (dot 6, dot 3 consecutively), is
used only for the purpose of providing clarity.  For example, if print shows a
hyphen after the capitalized, italicized, or underlined portion of a word to
indicate a compound word, using a hyphen as in the above examples would be
confusing as to whether the hyphen was used in braille to indicate a compound
word or only to terminate the capitalization or italics.  Therefore, the ter-
mination sign must be inserted before the hyphen.  It must also be inserted
before the hyphen if the capitalized or italicized portion of the word falls
at the end of a braille line, and the regular print portion of the word falls
on the next line.

EXAMPLES:    [ever]-lasting                  [phone]-
                                         booth

Press Esc when you are ready to begin the practice exercises.


Part II:  Print to Braille Exercises

1.  We can only pay our debt to the past by putting [the future] in debt to
    ourselves.
2.  The [hand] that rocks the cradle is the [hand] that rules the world.
3.  The Bronte sisters were famous for writing [The Tenant of Wildfell Hall],
    [Jane Eyre], and [Wuthering Heights].
4.  It is hospital policy that we don't make our i[n]patient i[m]patient
    waiting to see a doctor.
5.  [Technology] ... the knack of so arranging the world that we don't have
    to be affected by it.
6.  The most famous line of Eric Segal is "[Love means not ever having to
    say you're sorry]."
7.  [Tale-bearers] are just as bad as the [tale-makers]. 
8.  A man who has to be convinced to act before he acts is not a man of
    [act]ion ... You must act as you breathe.
9.  Franklin D. Roosevelt stated during a [Fireside Chat]:  "Never before
    have we had so little time in which to do so much."
10. No one can make you feel [in]ferior without your consent.
11. "[Lente!]  I want to hear [lente.]" the conductor coaxed his orchestra.
12. Did you see my article in [The New York Times]?
13. It is easier to get [into] trouble than [out of] it.
14. Alyssa preferred the movie [Gone With The Wind].
15. He was still unclear about whether the word was [imm]igrated or [em]i-
    grated.

Part III:  Braille to Print Exercises
1.  Without a doubt, the most famous line in [Gone With The Wind] is "Frank-
    ly my darling I don't give a d--n!"
2.  When you said we would meet to study did you mean 11 o'clock [a.m.] or
    11 o'clock [p.m.]?
3.  While I waited to see the doctor I browsed through [Newsweek], [The New
    Yorker], and [Travel] magazines.
4.  "Always remember that [what you lose on the popcorn, you make on the
    peanuts]," advised my grandpa.
5.  I will work [with the] people, but not [for] the money.
6.  While Abbott and Costello argued [who] was on first, and [what] was on
    second, my family was in tears with laughter.
7.  On his Christmas wish list are the following books:  [For Whom the Bell
    Tolls], [A River Runs Through It], and [Iron John].
8.  Are you going to spend your life as a [coulda, woulda, shoulda] man; or
    will you SEIZE THE DAY--[Carpe diem]?
9.  Throughout the rest of the world soccer is known as FOOTball.
10. I shall finish my project [by hook or by crook].
11. "Does everyone want [scrambled] eggs?" shouted Morgan.
12. Had I known [where] to pick you up, I would not have been so late.
13. It has always been my goal to see [The Phantom Of The Opera] on Broad-
    way.
14. I stated that Marion Lanning was a great [pa]triarch of modern weav-
    ing, not a great [ma]triarch.
15. She wears her clothes as if they were thrown on her with a [pitch-
    fork].

Part IV:  Proof Reading Exercises
1.  It had been years since I'd read the book [To Kill a Mockingbird].
2.  Well, if I called the incorrect number, why did you answer the phone?
3.  Stay until I am well, and then you shall tell me how to cure myself.
4.  Though a good deal is too strange to be believed, nothing is too strange to 
    have happen!
5.  "We shall [shop 'til we drop!] declared the two young girls.


SECTION VII:  SELF-TEST
Part I:  Information

                    Whether you believe you can,
                           or believe you can't,
                                   you're right!
                                       Anonymous


Part II:  Print to Braille Exercises
1.  "I cannot answer many of these questions on the questionnaire," declared
    Sister Socorro.
2.  The damage deposit was refunded to Patricia because that's whose name
    appeared on the lease.
3.  Barry had not said a word to his mother about the little fender-bender
    he made on her new Buick.
4.  The mean-spirited landlord lives in his own little world of greed and
    jealousy.
5.  Walking through the woods we happened upon a white-tailed deer quenching
    her thirst at a cool stream.
6.  The newlyweds plan to use some of their wedding money to cover the costs
    of their honeymoon.
7.  Those who find faults in others often cannot admit flaws of their own.
8.  Take time to appreciate the many simple pleasures this world has to of-
    fer.
9.  Neither the prisoner's spirit nor self-respect faltered during his five
    years behind the prison walls.
10. According to Rochelle, the baked haddock and the blackened trout are two
    house specialties.

Part III:  Braille to Print Exercises
1.  We can only base our beliefs upon solid and unchanging truths.
2.  It is always a choice in life as to whose words one is going to believe.
3.  Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
4.  We cannot all take the world by storm so we need to step aside for those
    who can.
5.  These people lead a quiet and spiritual life and should not be disturb-
    ed.
6.  "Whose clothes are still cluttering the floor?" cried the mother to her
    children.
7.  The thunder and lightning always send my poor dog flying under my bed.
8.  I once had as many as 30 zebra finches which I gladly gave away to my
    neighbor.
9.  The patriots fought bravely for their land, but unfortunately lost in
    the end.
10. The debate between Douglas and Lincoln turned into a spirited and heat-
    ed dispute.

Part IV:  Proof Reading Exercises
1.  Not a word was spoken all afternoon until the doctor informed us that the  
    young boy would pull through.
2.  We partook in the festivities without a care in the world of what others   
    thought of us.
3.  "Was it Davy Crockett or Daniel Boone who fought at the Alamo?" he asked.
4.  Had it not been for many supporters cheering me on, I doubt I could have   
    finished the marathon.
5.  Who placed their beverage on my new table without a coaster underneath it?
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