Can You Read Cursive? Test Yourself! | English with Jennifer

Hello everyone!

I'm Jennifer from English with Jennifer.  Can you read cursive? For the over 40 crowd,  

it's probably not too difficult.  We may be a little out of practice,  

but since we wrote a lot in cursive as children,  we haven't lost the ability to read it, even now  

when almost all of our written communication  is on a computer, a tablet, or a smartphone.  

I've seen and heard about some funny situations  when the inability to read cursive prevents  

communication. Young people receive greeting  cards and letters from older relatives in cursive,  

and the message can't be understood unless  it's read aloud by someone who can make  

sense of the handwriting. Recently, I overheard  a young woman complain to her coworker that she  

couldn't understand the notes, she couldn't  read the notes posted next to the computer  

because they were written in cursive. Cursive  may be on its way out, but until that time,  

you'll occasionally have to deal with cursive  handwriting. In this lesson, I'd like to show  

you samples of cursive from different people.  I'll also include some related vocabulary.  

I'm not going to teach you how to write  in cursive. There are plenty of online  

tutorials for that. And yes, I know there are  apps that recognize handwriting and convert it  

into printed text, but let's see just how well  you can manage without one of those apps. Okay?

I do fear that cursive is a dying art, and while  I love the convenience of typing on a keyboard,  

I sometimes miss seeing people's handwriting.  In school, we had penmanship classes. We had  

to practice making different strokes,  different movements, with our pencils.  

This developed our fine motor skills. I  remember some of those practice exercises.  

We had to make circles like... Oh,  I'm not very good at it anymore.  

Of course, we were on lined paper. Something  like that. Oh my gosh! Look. That's bad. I  

can do better. Let's see if I can do better. All  one size. Whoops. Okay. That's a little better.  

I'm out of practice. We had this. Something  like this. Yes. Oops. Then we had to do...

I think something like that. It's been a while.  Are you ready for your first reading challenge?  

It's not an easy one. I'll give you a moment  to read this text to yourself. Do your best.

First, let me explain that grammar school is  elementary school. In the past, we had different  

names for those lower grades: grammar school,  grade school. Today we say "elementary school."  

I'll read the text aloud now. I was  taught penmanship in grammar school.  

We practiced holding our pencils correctly  between the pointer finger and the thumb.  

I remember pages of... (You see all those  strokes?) which I still cannot do correctly.  

My grandmother had beautiful handwriting, and I  will send or text a copy. She was born in 1891.

People have their own way of writing in cursive.  Some write letters that lean more towards the  

right or the left. Some write big loops; others  write very skinny letters. My handwriting was  

never beautiful, but I remember carefully writing  my school assignments by hand on lined paper.

Today if my children write anything  by hand, they print their letters.  

Printing involves a lot of straight  lines, and the letters are not connected.  

Cursive involves a lot of curves and loops in  order to connect all the letters in a word.

We can use cursive as an adjective,  as in "cursive handwriting."

We can use cursive as an uncountable noun,  as in "read cursive, write in cursive."

One rule in cursive is to  finish the final letter of  

a word and then go back to dot your  i's and cross your t's. Like this.

I crossed my "t" and I dotted my "i." I teach  English. I'm fairly certain that only people  

over 35 use the expression "dot the  i's and cross the t's." It means to  

pay attention to detail. You need to be  very careful and avoid sloppy mistakes.  

For example, when you're submitting a job or  college application, there are a number of  

things that you need to get in order. Right? You  need to make sure that everything is completed  

accurately. You need to dot the i's and cross the  t's before sending everything off. We can say "dot  

the i's" or "dot your i's." Cross the t's, cross  your t's. And we usually say "dot the i's" first,  

but some speakers may switch it around and say,  "Be sure you cross the t's and dot the i's."

Another fun idiom that an older generation is  more likely to use is "mind your p's and q's."  

Can you recognize p's and  q's in cursive? Let's see.

Can you read that? I think quality  is more important than quantity.  

So, where is my one "p"? Right here. And two  "q's"? Right there. Again, I don't have the best  

handwriting, but p's and q's are similar. They  both have loops that go in different directions.  

You have to mind your p's and q's and make  them different, make the loops go in the  

right direction. The idiom is about being careful  again. When you need to be on your best behavior,  

you mind your p's and q's. For example, let's say  you're having a business lunch with an important  

client. You should mind your p's and q's. Ready  for the second reading challenge? I'm going to  

share some recipes. I know I'm not the only one  who has handwritten recipes. Some of us have  

inherited recipes from our mothers, grandmothers,  great-grandmothers... maybe even your  

great-great-grandmother. Well, you're not going  to be able to enjoy them if you can't read them.

Okay. Here you see two recipes. Look at  the one on the left. Do you see the title?  

If we follow this recipe,  what are we going to make?

Bran muffins. All right. Next challenge  is to identify the first five ingredients.

One egg beaten light. Two tablespoons  of sugar. That's an abbreviation.  

Two tablespoons of melted butter. Half  a cup of milk. Half a cup of flour.

Okay. With this recipe, here's the final  challenge. Who gave this recipe? Who wrote it?

A Mrs. Howard Hughes.

All right. Now turn your attention to the  recipe on the right. What are we going to make?

Well, we could make a Hungarian salad.

Scan the recipe for three  fruits and one vegetable.

I see these ingredients: pineapple,  bananas, tangerines, and lettuce.

As I mentioned, Americans still buy and send  greeting cards for birthdays, graduations,  

and other special occasions. And some people  sending these cards write in cursive. Beautiful  

messages might get lost if the person can't  read cursive. I'd like to share some examples of  

beautiful thoughts from friends and family. These  are more examples of cursive. They're pieces of  

advice that these people received and still value.  This is your third and final reading challenge.

My teacher, Mrs. Stewart, once told me to  always be true to myself in every situation,  

especially when life gets difficult. That has  always stayed with me during my adult life.

When life has you down, just remember there is always someone somewhere who is suffering more than you.  

This advice came from my paternal  grandmother, who was born in Hungary in 1909.  

She died in New Jersey at age 100. And  this was submitted by my friend Sonya.

This was submitted by a friend  and fellow teacher, Colleen.  

Don't marry someone you can live with  -- marry someone you can't live without!

Another friend decided to write out a quote.  I'll read aloud while you read the text silently.  

What is love? Love is patient and kind;  

love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant  or rude. It does not insist on its own way;  

it is not irritable or resentful; it does not  rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.

I've saved the best for the last. This  absolutely beautiful sample of cursive  

comes from the wonderful teacher who  taught me penmanship classes back in  

grade school -- or elementary school, if you  wish. I'll give you a moment to read her text.

The best advice I ever received was to be  kind. Smiling at someone can change their  

mood and brighten their day. Can  you read her first name? Rosalee.

So, how easy was it for you to read cursive?  Do you think you can manage without the help  

of an app? I hope so. You can find a tutorial  online if you want to learn or relearn how to  

write in cursive. They say that writing by  hand is good for us in a number of ways.  

One way I use handwriting in my daily life is  when I make my shopping list. I used to print,  

but recently I forced myself to write more in  cursive. I write what I want to buy, and then  

when I'm ready to go to the grocery store, I take  a photo. And then the photo is my shopping list.  

That's all for now. Please like and share the  video if you found the lesson useful. As always,  

thanks for watching and happy studies! If you like  the lesson, please consider purchasing a Super  

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