Dictating Prose

You can dictate prose in dictation mode and when using commands that take prose input like the formatter commands. This lets you dictate words and use the following features for inserting characters.

Punctuation

You can see the spoken forms for inserting punctuation characters by saying help punctuation.

Spelling

You can see the spoken forms for letters by saying help alphabet. You can insert lowercase letters by saying spell followed by letters' spoken forms. For example, spell air bat cap inserts "abc". You can insert capital letters by saying ship — for example, ship air bat cap inserts "ABC".

Numbers

You can insert a number by saying numb or numeral then the number. For example, saying numb five inserts "5". You can also include "negative", "point", "dot", "comma" or "colon" as in the additional examples below.

Spoken Form	Inserted Text
numb three point five	3.5
numb nineteen seventy five	1975
numb negative five	-5
numb three comma four	3,4
numb three colon twenty	3:20

Percentages

You can insert a number followed by a percent sign by dictating the number then percent. For instance, saying thirty five point nine percent inserts "35.9%".

Times of Day

You can insert times of day. For instance, saying twelve thirty inserts "12:30". Saying two P M inserts "2pm"; saying five thirty am inserts "5:30am".

Currency

You can insert a monetary amount by saying a number followed by a currency, such as twelve dollars to insert "$12". Saying a number after the currency puts it after a decimal point, for example saying twelve dollars fifty inserts "$12.50". You can optionally say and after the currency and/or cents or pence at the end, for example twelve dollars and fifty cents inserts "$12.50".

Abbreviations

You can insert an abbreviation by saying brief followed by the abbreviation. For instance, saying brief statistic inserts "stat". You can read and edit the list of abbreviations by saying customize abbreviations.

Modifiers

You can use the following prose modifiers for manual formatting.

Prose formatting options	Description
cap	capitalize the next word
no cap or no caps	the next word is in lowercase
no space	the next word is inserted without a space before it

For instance, saying this is an cap example of no space formatting inserts "This is an Example offormatting".

Prose Snippets

You can use the following miscellaneous prose snippets when dictating prose.

Spoken Form	Text/Keystroke
spacebar	presses the space bar
new line	presses enter
new paragraph	presses enter twice
open quote	inserts a space and then "
close quote	inserts "
smiley	inserts ':-)'
winky	inserts ';-)'
frowny	inserts ':-('

Contacts

You can insert information about your contacts such as name and email. This is documented in the contacts README.md.

Pasting

You can say clip clip to insert the contents of the clipboard. For instance, if you have copied the text "hello there", saying he sent me the message clip clip period inserts "he sent me the message hello there."

Notes for Technical Users

Community uses the <user.prose> and <user.raw_prose> captures to let the user dictate prose. <user.raw_prose> is used by dictation mode, whereas the <user.prose> capture is used by commands that take prose input. These captures allow dictating words and use the following lists and captures to offer more functionality.

Capture/List	Purpose
{user.punctuation}	punctuation characters
<user.prose_spell>	spelling with lowercase letters
<user.prose_ship>	spelling with upper case letters
<user.number_prose_prefixed>	numbers
<user.prose_percent>	percentages
<user.prose_time>	times of day
<user.prose_currency>	currency amounts
{user.abbreviation}	abbreviations
<user.prose_modifier>	prose modifiers
{user.prose_snippets}	miscellaneous prose snippets
<user.prose_contact>	contact information
<user.prose_clipboard>	the clipboard contents

Note that the prose modifiers are available in the <user.prose> capture and are available in dictation mode as commands.