Cursive A, uppercase and lowercase
Stroke stepsA in wordsPrintable practice sheet
The guide lines work like this: red is the baseline, dashed is the midline where short letters end, and the top blue line is capital height. Each letter is set from the outlines of the same school-cursive typeface, so the numbers in the size table are read from the letters, not guessed.
The 1915 Palmer Method treats small a as a reduced copy of capital A, so the two are best learned together, and both have stroke steps here. For the capital, the thing Palmer stresses is a stop at the top: without it the letter ends up with a loop. Each step says what Palmer wrote and what this typeface does differently.
Uppercase cursive A
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1Swing round the oval. Palmer has you trace an oval and then swing the pen, without checking the motion, into the beginning stroke of capital A. He does not say where on the paper that stroke starts, so the green start dot and the direction here follow this typeface's outline: from the top right, over the top to the left, down the left side and along the base. [1]
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2Rise on the long right-hand stroke to the top. The upward stroke and the last downward stroke meet in an angle there, and Palmer wants a positive stop at that point, so brief it can hardly be detected. Without the stop, a loop forms. His spoken count for it: you stop, every time, at the top. [2][3]
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3Come back down on the last downward stroke and leave through the finishing line. In Palmer's drill that line drops below the baseline; when capital A begins a word he prefers it joined to the small letters that follow. This typeface curls the finish up and to the right instead, so follow Palmer's words when you write it yourself. Then compare your best A with his models, finishing line included. [4][5]
What the handwriting manuals say. The steps above use only these points; the letter drawn is the modern typeface, so small details of the old models differ.
“lifting the pen at the base line on the sixth count without checking the motion and swinging it in the air to the beginning stroke of the capital A.”
“When two lines are connected in an angle, a positive stop at the point of connection is necessary. This principle applies to the top of capital A where the upward and the last downward strokes are joined. This stop is such a small fraction of a second in duration that it can hardly be detected. Without the stop at the top of capital A, a loop will be made.”
“You stop, you stop, at the top, you stop, every time, at the top. How long do you stop at the top? Not long, but you stop, every time, at the top.”
“In drill six the final line in capital A drops below the base line. This is done to give a rhythmic movement drill. In writing words beginning with capital A it is better to connect the last line with the small letters following, as in the second line in drill twenty-one.”
“Select your best capital and compare it with the models giving close attention to size, slant, width, distance between letters, and the beginning and finishing lines.”
Lowercase cursive a
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1Begin at the top and swing left round the oval. Palmer says to begin small a at the top. He calls it a reduced copy of capital A, and says its first part is the foundation of small c and is identical with the first parts of d, g and q, so this is the shape to fix in your mind. He does not mark where the first part ends; we read it as the oval. [1][2][3]
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2Climb the right side to the top, where the stroke turns back. The stop at the top is something Palmer teaches for capital A, and he points you to capital A as the model for small a. He does not repeat the stop rule for small a itself, so we do not add it here. [1]
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3Come back down the stem and finish with the out-stroke. Palmer counts 1, 2 for each small a and asks for lines of letters as small and as uniform as his copy. Small a is one of his one-space letters, the height he measures other letters against. [4][5][6]
What the handwriting manuals say. The steps above use only these points; the letter drawn is the modern typeface, so small details of the old models differ.
“Small a is, in the main, a reduced copy of capital A, and the first parts of small d, g, and q are identical with it. Fix the resemblance in the mind; it will help you.”
“Begin small a at the top just as it is in drill thirty”
“The first part of small a serves as the foundation of small c.”
“A count of 1, 2, should be used for each small a, and in connecting five letters it is a good plan to count 1–2, 3–4, 5–6, 7–8, 9–10.”
“Try to make a half-dozen or more lines of letters as small and as uniform as the copy.”
“one-sixteenth of an inch as representing a space in height for the minimum (one-space) letters a, c, e, i, m, n, o, u, v, w, and x.”
A in joined words
A capital A that starts a word hands over to the small letters after it, which is the use Palmer recommends for its finishing line. Each word below is typeset with the same font, which supplies the joins between letters.
- Anna
- Amy
- Alan
- Alice
- data
- area
How tall each letter sits on the lines
| Letter | Top of the letter | Bottom | Width |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lowercase a | 104% of the midline height (519 vs 500 units): the stem tip rises a little above the dashed line | on the baseline (-17 units, the bowl dips a hair below it) | 546 units including the finishing stroke |
| Uppercase A | 101% of capital height (1015 vs 1000 units): the stem tip just clears the top line | on the baseline (-17 units, the bowl dips a hair below it) | 988 units including the finishing stroke |
Units are the typeface's own grid. Read from the font file of Playwrite US Trad; see how these are made.
Practice sheet
A single page that fits US Letter and A4. Each letter gets a model row, which starts with a dark copy to imitate followed by gray letters to trace, and a row that is all tracing. Word rows to trace and empty rows for writing alone come after.