Distinguished by its phonemic basis, the system prioritizes the sounds of speech over traditional English spelling, enabling rapid writing by employing elliptical figures and lines that bisect them.

Over the years, Gregg shorthand has undergone several revisions, each aimed at simplifying the system and increasing its speed and efficiency.

[4] Initially, John Robert Gregg taught an adaptation of Duployan shorthand for English, a system that was predominant in France and characterized by uniform stroke thickness and attached vowel representation.

[6] Gregg shorthand is distinguished by its cursive strokes that blend smoothly, avoiding sharp angles, and its symbols are specifically designed for English, offering a better fit than the Duployan system.

For example, Gregg shorthand has a unique symbol for the "th" sound (/θ/ and /ð/), in contrast to Duployan systems, which use a dotted "t," resulting in slower writing.

[10] In the Anniversary edition and before, if z need be distinguished from s, a small tick drawn at a right angle from the s may be written to make this distinction.

[11] Many of the letters shown are also brief forms, or standard abbreviations for the most common words for increased speed in writing.

Based on the notion that lifting the pen between words would have a heavy speed cost, phrasing is the combination of several smaller distinct forms into one outline.

[23] In Anniversary and before, if ea need be distinguished from ia, it is notated with a small downward tick inside the circle instead of the dot.

[18] Due to the simple alphabet, Gregg shorthand is very fast in writing; however, it takes a great deal of practice to master it.

All the versions use the same alphabet and basic principles, but they differ in degrees of abbreviation and, as a result, speed.

[26][27][28][29][30][31][32] Several of these versions were given names: Anniversary (published in 1929), Gregg Shorthand Simplified (1949), Diamond Jubilee (1963), and Series 90 (1978).

Due to its rough-and-ready character and the fact that Pitman shorthand was well established there, it did not gain much success.

This system reduced the memory load on its learners by decreasing the number of brief forms and removing uncommon prefixes.

He also advised, "I do not believe any young student should hesitate to study Simplified for fear it will jeopardize his chances of becoming a reporter.

Series 90 (1978–1987) was an even simpler version, which used a minimal number of brief forms and placed a great emphasis on clear transcription, rather than reporting speed.

Gregg shorthand has been adapted to several languages, including Afrikaans, Esperanto,[36] French,[37] German,[38] Hebrew[citation needed], Irish, Italian, Japanese, Polish,[39] Portuguese,[40] Russian, Spanish,[41] Catalan, Thai, and Tagalog.

The Mandarin Chinese version slightly modified the original system, under the name Beifang Suji (北方 速記 Běifāng sùjì 'Northern Shorthand').