A letter to the learners of English: 14Joiners and non-joiners [Archives:2008/1217/Education]

Prof. M.N.K.Bose
Professor of English,
Faculty of Education, Taiz
[email protected]
Dear Student friends,

Do you know that the letters of the English alphabet can be classified into joiners and non-joiners? Yes, if a letter lends itself to joining with the following one, it's a joiner; if it doesn't, it's a non-joiner. Surprising? Letters c, d, e, f, h, I, k, l, m, n, o, r, t, u, v, w and z are joiners as you can join them with the following letter when you write and the others are non-joiners. Do you notice that the joiners are written with your hand moving towards right when you end up with each of them? This enables joining the letter with the following one. For example, while writing the words

court, mice, dive, uncle

you'll have to join each letter with the following one in order to have a flow of writing; otherwise you will be breaking the flow of your writing. Try writing each of the words several times and you will experience what I am saying. On the other hand, when you write letters like b, g, j, p, q, s, x and y, your hands moves towards left when you end up writing each of them and so you cannot join it with the following letter; these are non-joiners. For example, look at the following words:

open, speed, give, xerox

After writing letter 'p' in the word 'open', as the hand moves towards left, you can't join it with 'e'; similarly in 'speed', 'p' can't be joined with 'e'; in 'give', 'g' is not joined with 'i'; in 'xerox', 'x' is not joined with 'e'.

Of the joiners, a few of them are top joiners, as the joining is at the top of the letter; for example, f, o, r, t, v, w. Try writing the following words:

owns, fire, reed, vain, twin, wax

You will join 'o' and 'w' with 'n' at the top, but 'n' with 's' at the bottom; in 'reed', 'r' is joined with 'e' at the top, but 'e' with 'd' at the bottom; in 'vain', 'v' is joined with 'a' at the top; in 'twin', 't' and 'w' are joined with 'i' at the top' in 'wax', 'w' is joined with 'a' at the top. Letters n, i, e, a in these words are bottom joiners, as the joining of these letters with the following letters is at the bottom.

To sum up, the letters of the English alphabet can be classified into joiners and non-joiners, depending on whether you join them with the following letters or not; the joiners can be top joiners, if the joining is at the top of the letter or bottom joiners, if the joining is at the bottom.

You may wonder that there are such nuances in developing your handwriting in English. Your English teachers at the preparatory classes, if trained in the Faculties of Education or on special refresher courses, will be able to help you get the right kind of hand movement resulting in the correct size and shape of the letters as well as the right way of joining the letters with one another while writing continuously.

Remember that joining or non joining is important only when you are engaged in continuous writing. Practise good handwriting and succeed in your English writing and get optimum speed in your examinations.

Be in the forefront among scholars to make your father proud.

Yours affectionately,

Dr M N K Bose.
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