How cursive letters join
A cursive word is one movement, not a row of separate letters. The way each letter ends decides how it connects to the next, and there are only a few patterns to learn.
Every letter has an exit and an entrance
Look at any cursive letter and you can see two small strokes: the one it begins with and the one it ends with. A join is simply the ending of one letter running into the beginning of the next. Because of that, once you know how a letter ends, you know how it joins.
The lowercase letters end in one of three ways.
Pattern one: the baseline undercurve
Most lowercase letters finish at the baseline, the line the writing sits on, and sweep up to the right in a gentle curve. That upward swing is the join. It is called an undercurve because it is shaped like the bottom of a bowl.
The letters that end this way are a, c, d, e, h, i, k, l, m, n, r, s, t, u and x. The letters with tails, g, j, p, q, y and z, finish the same way after the tail comes back through the baseline. The join looks the same; the letter just goes below the line first.
Because the exit is an upstroke, the next letter has to start from a rising curve. Letters such as i, t, u, e, l and h begin with an upstroke from the baseline, so the join is almost invisible: the exit of one letter and the entrance of the next are the same stroke. Try the pairs in, it and ti on the cursive i page to feel it.
Pattern two: the bridge
Four letters finish at the top instead of the bottom: b, o, v and w. Their last stroke ends near the midline, and the join is a short horizontal bridge running to the next letter, sometimes called a checkstroke. It is drawn only when another letter follows. At the end of a word, the bridge is left off.
The bridge changes what happens next. The next letter starts at the midline, not at the baseline, so it begins slightly differently from the way it does after a baseline join. In the pairs we, on, ow and be, the second letter starts level with the bridge instead of climbing up from below. This is the part of cursive that feels least natural to people relearning it, and it is worth practicing on its own. The letters o, b, v and w each list practice pairs on their letter page.
A common mistake is to drop the bridge down to the baseline, making it look like an ordinary join. That changes the shape of the letter that follows. Keep the bridge high and let the next letter start where the bridge ends.
Pattern three: the f
The lowercase f is a special case. Its lower loop closes at the baseline, and the join starts from that closing point as a short stroke going right, about half the height of a small letter. It is shorter than the baseline undercurve and does not swing as far.
How the next letter starts
The beginning of a lowercase letter also falls into three groups, and knowing them explains why some pairs feel easy and others feel awkward.
- Undercurve starts (i, t, u, w, e, l, b, h, f, k, r, s, j, p): they begin with an upstroke from the baseline. After a baseline join, they continue the same stroke.
- Downcurve starts (a, d, g, o, c, q): the upstroke runs into a curve back to the left, to begin the oval. These letters are the ones most likely to come out crooked, because the join has to turn around before the letter starts.
- Overcurve starts (n, m, y, x, v, z): they begin with a rainbow-shaped curve, rising and coming down. After a baseline join the pen has to climb and turn over.
When a pair looks wrong, find which group the second letter belongs to. The fix is almost always in the entrance, not the letter itself.
Capital letters
Capitals are different from lowercase letters, because many of them are not joined to the letter that follows. In the style this site teaches, the capitals A, C, E, I, J, K, L, M, N, Q, R, U, X, Y and Z end with an upward swing that runs into the next letter. The capitals B, D, F, G, H, O, P, S, T, V and W lift the pen, and the next letter starts on its own.
Schools and charts do not agree on every capital. For example, some teach that L is not joined, and some join H. The letter pages say which way this site draws each one. For your own writing, pick one habit for each capital and keep it. A reader will not notice whether the capital joined, but they will notice if the next letter is very far from it.
Practice pairs that work
Practice joins in pairs, not alone. A few good ones to start with:
- Baseline joins: an, at, in, it, ur, th, he, me
- Bridge joins: be, bo, on, or, ve, vi, we, wi
- Tail joins: ge, ng, jo, qu, yo, ay
- The f join: fo, fi, of
The letter joins sheet has these pairs ready to trace, and the worksheet maker will lay out any pair or word you type. When the pairs are smooth, move on to whole words such as name, there and window, which mix all three patterns.