a) Initial Letter with Dot 5
b) Initial Letter with Dot 4 – 5

a ) Initial Letter with Dot 5

This section of the unit covers initial letter contractions with ‘dot 5’. These contractions are made of two consecutive Braille cells. Here, ‘dot 5’ in the first Braille cell serves as an indicator of a contracted word. It says that a contracted word is going to come. The second cell consists of the initial letter of that word. 

Note the example given below:
‘day’ – here, ‘d’ is the initial letter of the word ‘day’. While contracting the word ‘day’, we use two Braille cells. The first cell uses ‘dot 5’ and the second cell is of the initial letter. 
Below is the Braille formation.

day =

Here, three letters are contracted to two letters. 

Similarly, note the word ‘young’. To write this word, we use dot 5 as the indicator cell, followed by the Braille sign for ‘y’, the initial letter. The 5-letter word ‘young’ is abbreviated to two Braille cells and thus reading and writing are made easier, besides saving space also. 

The following list of words use the initial letter with Braille dot 5 combination.

These contractions represent a whole word or part of a word. Let us take the word ‘some’. Here we use dot 5 with the initial letter ‘s’ to write the word ‘some’. It can also be used for added words, say, ‘sometimes’. 

Example:

Here, in the word ‘sometimes’, the first part of the word ‘some’ and the added part of the word ‘times’ are contracted. The nine-letter word ‘sometimes’ is contracted to five letters (5 Braille cells).

b) Initial Letter with Dots 4-5

In this section, a prefix of dots 4-5 indicates an initial letter contraction. A two-Braille cell sequence represents the words. The first cell is the dots 4-5 which is the indicator preceding the initial letter. The second cell is for the initial letter of the word it represents.

Example

These contractions are used for whole words and also for part of a word.

Example

whereupon =

sword =

Note the following words and identify the initial letter
1. thereupon
2. sword
3. wordy

Interactive Assessment

a) Initial letter with dot 5

Interactive Assessment

b) Initial letter with dot 4 – 5

Worksheet –a) Initial Letter with Dot 5 – b) Initial Letter with Dot 4 – 5

Resource Document – a) Initial Letter with Dot 5 – b) Initial Letter with Dot 4 – 5