How to write a cursive g

Forming the cursive g

g is the same oval as a with the stem carried on down and looped to the left. Practising g and q back to back is worth the time: identical bodies, opposite tail directions, and children who never compare them keep mixing the two for years. Lead-in is a downcurve and the exit returns to the baseline, so g joins forward normally despite the tail.

Start: On the baseline, at the left of the oval

1. Undercurve lead-in up to the midline, stopping at the one o'clock position
2. Downcurve back over the top and counter-clockwise round the outside of the oval to the baseline
3. Run along the baseline and take the line back up the right-hand side to seal the oval at the midline
4. Retrace straight back down the right-hand side and keep going through the baseline into the descender space
5. Swing the tail round to the LEFT and bring it back up to the baseline
6. Undercurve exit at the baseline, swinging away toward the next letter

How it joins

The cursive g finishes on the baseline with an undercurve, which is exactly where the next letter begins. That is why cursive can be written without lifting the pencil: the exit of one letter is the entry of the next. Practise g inside a word rather than on its own as soon as the shape is reliable, because the join is the part that actually needs practice.

Common mistakes

• The tail loops to the right instead of the left, which produces a q.
• The oval is left open at the top, so g reads as y.
• The tail stops short of the baseline, leaving the next letter starting from somewhere below the line.
• The descender runs too deep and tangles with the writing on the line below.

Letters that move the same way

Counter-clockwise oval letters: A downcurve lead-in: rise from the baseline to about the one o'clock position on the letter body, then roll back over the top and travel counter-clockwise round the outside of an oval down to the baseline. What happens after the oval, a short stem, a tall stem, a tail, or a level exit, is all that separates these six.

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Print first, then cursive

Cursive is usually introduced once print handwriting is automatic, typically around third grade. If a child is still thinking about how to form printed letters, adding a second script makes both harder. Theprinted g page covers that form, andwhen cursive is usually taughtexplains why the timing varies so much.