The hundred words

Roughly half of all the words in any ordinary piece of English writing come from a list of about a hundred: the, of, and, to, in, is, you, that, it, he, was, for, on, are, as, with, his, they, at, be, this, have, from, or, one, had, by, word, but, not, what, all, were, we, when, your, can, said, there, use, an, each, which, she, do, how, their, if, will, up, other, about, out, many, then, them, these, so, some, her, would, make, like, him, into, time, has, look, two, more, write, go, see, number, no, way, could, people, my, than, first, water, been, call, who, oil, its, now, find, long, down, day, did, get, come, made, may, part.

Every one of those is short, and most of them you have typed already in this course. What this lesson adds is volume. Typing these words several hundred times, in mixed order, is the cheapest speed gain available to you, because these are the words you will type most for the rest of your life. A typist who has these hundred shapes in their hands is fast on half of everything without trying.

There are no new shapes here, only familiar ones, so use the drills to work on rhythm. Aim for an even pace across the whole line rather than a fast burst on the easy words and a stall on the awkward ones. The check target is twenty-one words a minute, and on these words that should feel relaxed.