Shortform
“always” in braille
Written a-l-w — 6 letters cut to 3 letters of abbreviation, then written in 3 cells. That is 3 cells saved every time the word appears.
dots 1, then dots 1-2-3, then dots 2-4-5-6
Unicode ⠁⠇⠺ — 6 letters in 3 cells
How to recognise it
a-l-w, and the w is easy to hold on to because no other member of the al- group uses it. It is the commonest of the six after “also”, and the w standing alone is the word “will” — so the three cells read as “a like will” to someone still learning them.
Two steps, not one
Abbreviated in letters first, then written in cells. “always” loses 3 letters — a, y, s — to become alw. Every letter of the abbreviation is then written as itself, one cell each.
| Stage | What it is | Cells |
|---|---|---|
| Spelled out | always | 6 cells |
| Abbreviated | alw | 3 letters |
| Written | 3 cells |
It carries no endings
No English word begins with “always” except the word itself, so there is nothing for an ending rule to decide here. These 3 cells write the bare word and nothing else. “good” is the opposite case — it carries seven different endings.
Learn it with the al- words
This is one of 6 shortforms built to the same shape — a-l, then what tells them apart — and the set is far quicker learned together than one word at a time: almost (alm), already (alr), also (al), although (alth), altogether (alt).
What these 3 cells mean elsewhere
Every cell here has other jobs, which is where misreadings come from:
| Cell | Dots | What it is elsewhere |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | the letter a | |
| 1-2-3 | the letter l; the word “like” standing alone | |
| 2-4-5-6 | the letter w; the word “will” standing alone |
Check your own text
The translator writes “always” with Grade 2 selected, and the contractions page has all seventy-three.
“always” in braille as an image
The word as it is actually written: alw in 3 cells, not 6 letters.
