The letter L in braille

How to recognise it

Dots 1, 2 and 3 make a full vertical line down the left column — the longest straight line in the code and unmistakable under the finger.

B, L and V: one shape

L is B with dot 3 added; add dot 6 as well and it becomes V.

Where L turns up in Grade 2

Standing alone, L is the word “like”. Inside a word it is the letter again: “look” is ⠇⠕⠕⠅.

Writing a capital L

Capital L is two cells: the capital sign, dot 6, then L. A word in capitals takes the sign twice, once for the whole word: “LOOK” is ⠠⠠⠇⠕⠕⠅. Capitals covers longer runs.

Easily confused with

L differs by a single dot from B, K, P, R and V — the letters to drill it against.

Practice words

Words that start with L, one cell per letter in Grade 1. Where Grade 2 writes one shorter, that form follows.

In a whole book

In a count over the whole of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the letter l is printed 4,709 times. Grade 2 still writes it as its own cell 3,763 times, 79.9%. The other 946 are inside contractions, most often “little” (252), “would” (91), “like” (85) and “could” (83).

The cell itself is written 4,194 times in the Grade 2 text: 3,763 as the letter, 85 as the word “like”, 290 inside shortforms and 56 as the second cell of a two-cell contraction.