Just as you thought that we were done, we're getting a bunch of contractions and shortforms all at once. The contractions studied here are quite extensive, please listen to the audio for this assignment for the complete list. For the write up, you need to know that there are dot 5, dots 45, and dots 456 contractions. Most of the rules may be the same as EBAE, in that you write most of these when they stand for themselves and should not be used in words like blathered, hypotheses, Dupont, and observe contractions in examples like month/day/year.
The book has sections on every possible combination you can think of, I honestly think its too much. Put the rules in place for transcribing for those who have special circumstances, such as the one for upon, these, those, whose, and there. Section 9.2 of the instruction manual cover the rules for specific initial-letter contractions. There are 8 different sections to this alone, is that really necessary? I wonder if I got confused by this assignment because of all these dos and don'ts we must read before we even get to the assignment. Coming from EBAE, if its the same, tell us that. If it is different, mention the differences. It isn't necessary for us to read all these dos and don'ts for things a braille reader already knows. I understand too, that the lesson book takes you through as though you know absolutely nothing, so maybe highlight them, don't go on and on about those that seem very obvious. If you must tell us when not to use them, make a section for all contractions when they should not be used, and a section for those that should be and examples are fine.
The assignment has 29 problems, and is done as a 1-3 format. You learned about this in assignment 7, and of course, they keep you on your toes for assignment 8 when they have you go back to the 3-1 format. I honestly think the sentences should have all been in 3-1, and introduce 1-3 as a format to be discussed later which they have done in certain circumstances.
If you were not confused already by the order of shortform words you will be now. In this assignment, we are using the contracted words for: according, always, braille, children, and perhaps. Don't get me started on the dos and don'ts of these contractions either, because braille must conform to spelling. For example, they mention not to use the braille contraction for brailling. Duh?
This assignment took me two tries to do. If I wasn't confused by the dos and don'ts, let me let you know that the course just gets harder. One future lesson has me doing it three times, the maximum number of times because of the confusion of it all.
Starting with this assignment, I was assessed a penalty of days to wait before submitting a corrected assignment. Through the first 8, the submission process was allowed to be shorter. I feel it is a penalty because if I'm confident in my work, I should be allowed to submit. While assignment 16 took me awhile to submit because of its complexity, I should not be delayed when ready unless there is a reason such as being out of town which is what happened in 16's case. I forgot, and submitted, but it had been awhile since i sent my last 15. More on these assignments will be covered later on in different files.
I feel I get reprimanded when I'm told to proof my work, let it sit, and come back. This happened throughout the course, and more now than ever. I was even told in my report to proof it twice. Even in later lessons, I told the instructor that this is what I've done. No matter, on the 6th of February 2019 I passed with the second try. To add insult to injury, I'm now told to wait a certain number of days before submitting 10. While I was waiting for the report, is it a crime to work on the next one and proof it? If I'm ready before then, than why the huge delay? It only gets worse, and it may depend on the grader, so take these comments with a grain of sault.
While I passed the 2nd time, there were still errors to correct.
If done correctly which my files were corrected, the lesson itself should be three pages and only your address should be on the fourth page.
In the following audio demo, we'll take you through the assignment, showing you several sentences, and even talking about how the error took place. I got some assistance from Bob and I'll explain why. It was more to do with formatting than anything else, but it is Braille2000 related.
That completes the write up on this assignment.