STENOGRAPHERS, TYPISTS, AND COMPTOMETRISTS 93
STENOGRAPHERS
The tests described as being applicable to typists are
ec [ually applicable to stenographers, and in some instances
more so. The Trabue completion test, or the context
test as it might also be called, is particularly significant,
f°r the stenographer must not only be able to supply the
w °tds and phrases which the person dictating fails to
enunciate clearly, but she must also be able to read the
sentences which she has taken down and to supply those
parts which she has herself failed to record clearly. The
Se nse of context is therefore of twofold importance in the
stenographer. In addition, she should have a
of grammatical expression, and for this purpose,
a grammatical test like that given in the Appendix under
paragraph 21 was chosen. It will be seen that this test calls
f°r the detection and correction of certain fairly common
err °rs in expression, some of them obvious and others more
snbtle. The individual who can not immediately see and
correct most of these errors is obviously handicapped as a
s tenographer; for a good stenographer should not only be
to avoid grammatical mistakes on her own part, but
s he should also be quick to detect them on the part of her
employer. The variations and modifications to which
§ r amrnar tests lend themselves are infinite. Besides the
context and grammar tests the spelling test is also of great
lrn P°rtance in the case of stenographers. A stenographer
^hose spelling is slipshod is a trial to her superior.
The most important test, probably, which can be given
to a stenographer is of her ability to take and to transcribe
dictation. This is a difficult test not only to take but to
gme. Two methods may be adopted. One is to dictate
a certain amount of material to the candidate within a
case of the
knowledge
