a) One – Cell Whole Word Contraction 
b) Strong Word

In Grade 2 Braille ,This unit covers Braille signs for two aspects of contractions. The first one, deals with “one-cell whole word” contractions. In the second section, the lesson relates to abbreviations of some common words.

a) One-cell whole word Braille Contraction

In English Braille, some words are contracted to a single Braille cell. This is known as one – cell whole word Braille contraction. This contraction is used to increase writing and reading speed and to reduce space utilization in Braille writing. 

Here are a few examples:

A single Braille cell indicates the letter ‘b’, which stands for the word ‘but’. Thus, a one-cell Braille contraction is called alphabetic word signs. In the one-cell whole word contractions, there are 23 single-cell units (letters in the alphabet) except ‘a’, ‘i’, and ‘o’. 

The following chart denotes the single-cell units for whole words. Let us learn the single Braille cell units that indicate a letter and its corresponding word.

Rules

i) These single-letter contractions must be separated from other words. Single-letter contractions are meaningful only when they represent the entire word. 
Example
I get more knowledge about the topic
People in this city are good.

ii) The single cell or single letter is used as an abbreviation to represent the exact word, but not when other words are added. 
Example

As shown above, the letter ‘l’ represents the exact word ‘like’. But it should not be used for the word ‘likes’ as given in the above example.  

b) Strong words

Strong words imply some very commonly used words. For example, ‘and’ is a common word, the special sign for the word in Braille is . The Braille dots for this sign are 1-2-3-4-6.

In this section, the following five very common words are represented by special Braille signs. Note the following common words and the signs corresponding to these five words.

The five very common words are: and, for, of, the, with
The following chart contains the Braille signs used for representing these common words.

Example
She went to the shop with her friend and bought bag for her mother.
He wrote an essay with the help of his friend.
The keys of the car is for you and me.

From the sentences given above, note the usage of all the strong words covered in this section. In Braille, these strong words are contracted with the special signs given in the chart.

Interactive Assessment

a) One – cell whole word contraction

Interactive Assessment

b) Strong word

Video – a) One – cell whole word contraction 

Video – b) Strong word

Worksheet – Grade 2 Braille contracted

Resource Document – Grade 2 Braille contracted