Types of Cursive Handwriting

Where it came from

• Created by Platt Rogers Spencer, a bookkeeper who wanted one uniform hand anyone could learn; after his death his sons published the Spencerian Key to Practical Penmanship, which became the standard textbook.
• Taught with a combined arm-and-finger movement.
• It is the loopy hand of diplomas and old wedding invitations, and the ancestor of the original Coca-Cola logo. Today it survives as calligraphy rather than as a school subject.

How to recognise it

• Oval-based letters on a steep slant — the Spencerian Key marks its slant at 52°.
• Thick downstrokes and hairline upstrokes (shading), drawn with a pointed pen.
• Ornate capitals, each with several variants.

Where it came from

• Austin Norman Palmer, a penman in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, published Palmer's Guide to Business Writing in 1894.
• New York City's schools adopted it after seeing Palmer demonstrate at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904, and districts across the country followed; in 1912 alone the textbook sold a million copies.
• Its point was speed: writing from the arm, not the fingers — “muscular movement” — so a clerk could keep up with the typewriter. Students drilled rhythmic ovals alongside their letters.
• It began to fade in the 1950s as schools moved to Zaner-Bloser, and the Palmer company stopped publishing in the 1980s.

How to recognise it

• Plain and unshaded: the flourishes of Spencerian stripped out, capitals simplified.
• The capital Q is shaped like the numeral 2, and the lowercase z drops below the line with a loop.
• Written with a coarse pen, so every line has the same weight.

Where it came from

• By the middle of the 20th century it was the most widely taught handwriting in the US, taking over from Palmer.
• Children learn an upright print first, then a separate slanted cursive — two different alphabets, which is the transition later programs tried to smooth.
• Still published today, running from print in kindergarten to cursive through grade six.

How to recognise it

• A slant of about 25°.
• Long exit strokes that run all the way up to the midline — which can make l look like b and u look like w.
• p has a loop; the crossbar of t sits a little above the midline; e has a straight back, like a small l.
• The capital Q ends under the baseline and does not join the next letter. Older editions looped their capitals; the current one drops those opening loops.

Where it came from

• Created by Donald Neal Thurber, a Michigan teacher, to fix the print-to-cursive jump: its print is already slanted, and most print letters end in a small tail.
• Moving to cursive mostly means connecting the tails. Only 13 letters change shape between D'Nealian print and D'Nealian cursive, and the slant does not change.

How to recognise it

• A gentler slant of about 17°.
• Short exit strokes, often called “monkey tails”.
• p is a straight stick; the crossbar of t sits on the midline; e has a round back, like c and o.
• The capital Q is open on the left, so it looks like a 2 — and unlike Zaner-Bloser's, it joins the next letter.

Where it came from

• Created by an occupational therapist, Jan Olsen, and built around how young children's hands develop. It is known for its simple two-line paper.
• Taught from kindergarten to fourth grade.

How to recognise it

• Upright — no slant at all.
• Simplified letters that stay close to print, though e, f and k change form in cursive.

Where it came from

• Written to be easier to learn: fewer strokes, simpler capitals, and a light slant to the right.

How to recognise it

• Capitals such as R, K, P and Z start without the small lead-in curve older styles use.

Where it came from

• Developed by Linda Shrewsbury, who noticed that most lowercase letters fall into four shared shapes and taught them as four colour-coded “strings”: ovals, loops, swings and mounds.
• It assumes the learner can already print, which is why it suits older children and adults.

How to recognise it

• The ovals string, for example, is a, c, d, g, q and o — learned together as one movement.

Where it came from

• Developed by Barbara Getty and Inga Dubay. Children learn one slightly slanted italic print, and cursive italic is the same alphabet with joins added — no second alphabet to learn.
• Their adult book, Write Now, is a common recommendation for grown-ups fixing messy handwriting.

How to recognise it

• No loops. Short diagonal and flat joins, and sensible pen lifts inside words.