Other Shorthand Improvements Between 1602 and 1707 (Shorthand Part 9)

1644 — Theophilus Metcalf 
Theophilus Metcalfe published the 6th edition of his Radio-Stenography in 1645. He is the first author to suggest leaving out the small words "the" and "of," words that can be supplied from context or memory to speed writing.

1659 — Noah Bridges
Noah Bridges published Stenographie and Cryptographie in 1659. His is the first system to represent medial vowels with dots. He represented initial vowels by alphabet sign and final vowels with dots.

1674 — Elisha Coles
Elisha Coles published The Newest, Plainest and Shortest Shorthand in 1674. Coles was the first shorthand author to suggest position writing or writing on ruled paper which gives three distinct writing positions: above the line, on the line, and below the line.

Coles thought the greatest obstacle to shorthand speed was monosyllables. In his system, writing a vowel sign above, on, or below the line corresponded to certain monosyllabic words. For example, an A written above the line represented the words add, aid, and, age, arch, ash, ark, and ask.