To find out what your handwriting give away, take a sample and check it for the characteristics outlined below. Use three or more samples written several months apart. The writing should be fairly recent, as changes in handwriting are brought about by the maturing of a personality, and should not be written specially for the test.

Size

The size of a person's handwriting symbolizes the person's assessment of themselves. The average or "normal" size of a formal letter is 3mm. Larger letters may indicate such positive characteristics as seriousness, pride in one's work and generosity, or they may indicate negative characteristics such as arrogance, conceit and boastfulness. The positive aspects of a small script are devotion, humility and tolerance. Alternatively it can mean shyness, lack of self-confidence, fear or faintheartedness.

Slant

   Writing that slants to the right shows an extroverted and outward going personality which, in its positive aspects, is active, friendly and sympathetic but might also be restless, hasty or even hysterical. An upright script indicates a self-sufficient and reserved nature; the head rules the heart, occasionally to such an extent that the writer may be accused of rigidity and coldness. A left-sloping script with an angle of less than 85 degrees can be interpreted to mean self-control. When the slope is less than 60 degrees, it can mean shyness, withdrawal or fear of the future.

Width and narrowness

   In normal writing the distance between the downstrokes of small letters is equal to the hight. Wide writing indicates a warm and vivacious person, whereas narrow writing shows timidity and perhaps inhibition in personal relationships.

Connectedness

   When four or more letters are written with one stroke the writing is considered to be connected. Breaks for dotting "i"s and crossing "t"s do not count. It generally means a cooperative, but can mean over-adaptability and a tendency to follow the crowd.

   In disconnected script, less than four letters are written with one stroke of the pen. It tends to mean an intuitive, self-reliant and individualistic personality. The negative aspects of such characteristics are egocentricity, inconsistency or loneliness.

Directions of lines

   Does your writing slopes upwards? This may mean you are an ambitious and optimistic person, or alternatively that you often lose your temper or are rather frivolous. If your writing slopes downwards over the page, it indicates a pessimistic and over-sensitive nature. But take heart! The direction of the lines is one of the least permanent aspects of our writing and probably only reveals a passing mood.

Loops

   Full round loops in the upper zone of the writing ("f"s, "l"s, etc.) mean vision, imagination and colourful speech. An absence of loops indicates an analytical mind and strong moral tendencies. Loops in the lower zone tend to indicate erotic fantasies and behaviour sensuousness, materialism and country interests. Small loops - or no loops at all - show a business mind and realism, but sometimes also pessimism and an obsession with money.

Signatures

   Signatures are significant in as much as they differ in size from the rest of the text. A much larger signature shows a person who has an over-blown opinion of themselves. A much smaller signature indicates a shy and retiring personality. Differences of size, angle and width between the Christian name and the family name symbolize the relationship between the writer and their family.

Feminine writing and masculine writing

   A number of studies on handwriting have shown that even somebody with no training in graphology whatever has more than chance success in detecting the sex of the writer. Try your own ability with these three samples: