What Are Some Different Styles of Penmanship?

Penmanship styles range from printing to various types of cursive writing including new American cursive, italic cursive, the handwriting without tears style and the continuous stroke. Although most children begin learning how to write with the basic printing of letters, as they develop and improve their skills, different styles of cursive writing are often introduced in the classroom.

New American cursive is a simple style that connects all letters in a modern style without a slant whereas italic cursive has more of a right slant with every letter. The modern style of cursive connects each letter with a slight right angle slant. The lettering is also more formal with tall capital letters. Penmanship, often dubbed as handwriting without tears, is a form of cursive writing where the letters take on more of a block form without any slants. The capital letters are rarely connected whereas the lowercase letters connect to one another. The continuous stroke is historically one of the most popular forms of penmanship taught in schools. Students are instructed not to lift their pencils from the page when connecting letters, and the capital letters contain loops, also known as tears, to add more of a formal, modern look to this style of penmanship.

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