Clickable dictation at various speeds is available at the bottom of this page. The transcript of the dictation appears here as well.

   I still say the vocabularly for these letters is much too easy. That said, you need to PUSH to get it all down in a LEGIBLE format. That means you're reading it back and not just scrawling or scribbling something that can NEVER be read. Accuracy is a habit; develop it while you're still in school!

Shorterhand Skills for the Future, Pitman Publishing Corporation, 1974, p  133, 139, and 144

Speed Building Practice

Gentlemen:  It is necessary that we have the electrical repairs completed and the bill in our hands at the end of this month.  We expect to have a meeting of several very important people in our office at that time and we wish to have everything in the best possible condition.  We would have no objection to having your men work in the evenings to finish the job quickly and we are prepared to pay whatever costs would be involved.
            We would be willing to make payment for the job within thirty days after it is finished.  Whenever you feel that it has become necessary to make changes in your plans, please let us know as soon as possible.  Yours truly,

* * * * *
Dear Sir:  We wish to acknowledge your letter of May 15.  Although we are glad to see that you are interested in improving the efficiency of our company, we cannot agree with you that this is the time to make a general survey of our company.  Any such arbitrary step now would cause many of our people to lose their enthusiasm for increasing sales.  Most of our people are capable of increasing their sales this year if they are able to work without having to worry about the level of efficiency of their paperwork.
            We shall undoubtedly make an efficiency survey in the near future so as to eliminate any poor practices.  Yours truly,

* * * * *
Gentlemen:  We are interested in finding out what the cost would be for an office in your building.  We are planning to use it as our executive office because we wish to establish a branch of our company in this city.  We are not familiar with the cost of an office in your building.  We should inform you that our expenditure for this purpose is limited.  For this reason, we would not be able to take an expensive office.
            We should like to take the office as soon as possible and have it for the remainder of the year on a month-to-month basis.  After that we would be willing to sign a lease for a year.  Very truly yours,

For more information on shorthand speed building, click here.

Instructions for Self-Dictation Practice:
    Copy and paste the above article into a word-processing document, using double or triple spacing and 12- or 14-pitch type.
    As always, be sure to check your shorthand dictionary for correct outlines before "drilling"!

Dictation Practice:
    Note that the material was counted and recorded for dictation at 100; all other speeds were copied from the 100 take and electronically adjusted and may therefore sound unusual.

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The dictation material above is copyrighted, all rights reserved.

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Gregg Shorthand Pitman Shorthand Speedwriting Shorthand