Speed Typing Common Phrases

AutoCorrect is brilliant as a text expander for phrases and sentences. However, I don’t want to reinvent the wheel here. Basically you just use the first letter of each word in the phrase to form the code, and there are already zillions of people using it in that way and for that purpose.

What I will do instead is jump right in with my own list of the common AutoCorrect phrases beginning with the letter ‘a’. In later posts I will supply lists to cover the rest of the alphabet.

Every time I encounter a common phrase I add it to my AutoCorrect codes and the list below is the result. If a common phrase beginning with ‘a’ isn’t on the list then it’s because in eight years of using AutoCorrect, it never cropped up.

You will notice, however, that they are very conversational. I deliberately haven’t included any phrases or expressions specific to my work, or to any particular client or field. That's because you don't need or want to know the phrases that are common in my work. You only need to know how to create your own.

I suggest you enter only those phrases from the list that you think you are likely to use, then prepare a practice exercise for yourself. At the top of a Word document type out all your ‘a’ phrases as a single paragraph. Then as you read them out aloud to yourself, type along using the AutoCorrect codes. Repeat the practice sessions while increasing your speaking speed. After you have repeated the exercise a few times you will find that you are typing all the codes quickly and automatically. NB: there are a couple of ‘must have’ words in there as well. Plus I have put an asterisk next to the ones that I personally use quite a lot.

............................AutoCorrect........Expanded Text
...................................abm.................a bit more *
...................................aby..................anybody *
...................................acty.................actually *
...................................aly...................already *
...................................aoe..................anyone *
...................................afa...................as far as
...................................afaic................as far as I'm concerned *
...................................afaik................as far as I know *
...................................afayc...............as far as you're concerned
...................................afda.................a few days ago
...................................agdo................a great deal of
...................................ahoalo..............a hell of a lot of
...................................aimb.................as I mentioned before *
...................................ais....................as I said
...................................aisb..................as I said before
...................................aiws..................as I was saying *
...................................al......................at least *
...................................alb....................a little bit
...................................ala....................as long as
...................................albm..................a little bit more
...................................alo.................... a lot of
...................................alop...................a lot of people
...................................alott...................a lot of the time
...................................alt......................a long time
...................................altog.... .... ........altogether *
...................................alty....................alternatively
...................................alw.....................a little while
...................................alwa...................a little while ago
...................................ama...................a moment ago *
...................................amap.................as much as possible *
...................................amer..................America
...................................amern................American
...................................amerns..............Americans
...................................amt....................amount *
...................................ano....................another *
...................................anot...................a number of times
...................................ao......................and/or *
...................................aot.....................as opposed to *
...................................aoas............. .....all of a sudden
...................................ar.......................all right *
...................................asa.......... ..........as soon as
...................................asap........... .......as soon as possible *
...................................asf..................... and so forth
...................................aso.....................and so on
...................................asoasf.......... ......and so on and so forth
...................................atb......................across the board
...................................ated....................at the end of the day
...................................ag.......................anything *
...................................atge....................anything else
...................................atlo......................along the lines of
...................................atm......................at the moment *
...................................ap........................at present
...................................atpit.....................at this point in time
...................................atpt......................at the present time
...................................ats.......................at this stage
...................................atsot....................and that sort of thing
...................................atst......................at the same time
...................................att........................at the time
...................................aust......................Australia
...................................austn....................Australian
...................................austns..................Australians
...................................avlt.......................a very long time
...................................awy......................anyway *
...................................awa......................as well as
...................................ayk.......................as you know
...................................ays.......................as you said
...................................ayst......................are you saying that
...................................ayw......................anywhere *
...................................ayws.....................as you were saying