Common Cursive Mistakes and How to Fix Them

Write two lines of ordinary text in cursive, then read this list and tick the mistakes you see. Do not try to fix everything at once: pick one or two, spend a week on them and then re-check. The mistakes are grouped from the most common (shape and closure) to the least (pressure and posture).

The letters a, d, g, o and q all begin with an oval. If the oval stays open at the top, an a turns into a u, a d into a cl and an o into a stroke. The reader has to guess.

Fix: draw the oval counterclockwise and bring the pen back to where it started before you move on to the stem. Practice by writing a row of the same letter and covering the bottom half of the page; if you can still tell the letter, it is closed.

The cursive e is a small loop. If the loop is too narrow, the ink fills it and the letter looks like an i or an l. If it is too wide, it looks like an o.

Fix: make the loop about half the width of an a, and slow down at the top of the stroke so the loop opens.

The cursive r has a small peak and a short, flat shoulder. The cursive s rises to a point, curves down and closes at the baseline. Mixing them makes words such as rise and rose hard to read.

Fix: write rs and sr pairs slowly, a row of each, and exaggerate the flat shoulder of the r. The r and s lesson pages show the stroke order.

The n and m arch over like a hill, and the u and w dip like a cup. People who write them at the same speed often make them look the same, and a word such as minimum becomes a row of identical strokes.

Fix: write the arches and the cups as separate rows. Count the humps out loud: one for n, two for m. For u and w, make the pointed stroke at the bottom a small, definite curve.

The letters b, o, r, v and w end at the midline. If you drop to the baseline before joining, the next letter looks detached and the word looks bumpy. Examples are on, ow, or, ve and we.

Fix: leave the letter with a nearly level stroke and start the next letter from the end of that stroke. The lowercase page lists which letters use high joins.

The letters b, d, f, h, k and l should reach the top line. When they stop at the midline, h looks like n, and l looks like e. The t is shorter, at about two thirds of the way up, and should not be as tall as the h.

Fix: write on lined paper with a printed midline and top line. Keep a row of l loops going and check each one against the top line.

The g, j, p, q, y and z drop below the baseline. Common problems are loops that are too small, loops that do not close, and tails of different depths in the same word. A word such as gypsy shows it quickly.

Fix: draw a guide line below the baseline and bring every descender to it. Write the pair of letters gy five times and check that the two loops match.

Lifting the pen in the middle of a letter breaks its shape. Lifting after every letter removes the benefit of cursive. The dot of the i and the cross of the t should be added after the word is finished, not when you reach the letter.

Fix: write each word in one go and go back to add the dots and crosses, working from the end of the word toward the start so you do not smudge wet ink.

Beginners often start with a slant and end the line with a different one. The result is a line that looks untidy even when the letters are correct.

Fix: draw slanted guide lines in the margin, or use a worksheet with slant lines, and turn the paper rather than your wrist as you move down the page. A steady slant is the biggest single improvement most people can make.

Capitals should reach the top line and be clearly bigger than the small letters. They also differ most between school models: Zaner-Bloser, D'Nealian and Palmer form several capitals differently, and mixing models in one piece of writing looks inconsistent.

Fix: choose one model, usually the one your school or teacher uses, and practice each capital from the uppercase letters page until it is automatic. Ask your teacher if you are unsure which model applies.

If the gaps between letters are wider than the gaps between words, the page becomes hard to read. A useful rule: leave about the width of a lowercase n between letters, and a clearly bigger gap, around the width of an o or a little more, between words.

Fix: write the same sentence with a pencil dot between words, as a reminder, until the spacing becomes automatic.

A white-knuckled grip causes a hand that tires quickly and lines that are jerky. It often shows up when people try to write neatly.

Fix: loosen your grip until you can almost pull the pen out of your hand. The pens guide covers grip and pen choice, and the messy handwriting guide covers posture and setup.

1. Write two lines of text and mark the three mistakes you see most.
2. Pick one and spend a week on it with five minutes of daily drills.
3. At the end of the week, write the same two lines and compare.
4. Move on to the next mistake. Do not return to a fixed one unless it comes back.

If you want a daily structure, use the 30-day practice plan.