Word Note (No. 28)
Amendment Shorthand System
(ASS Macro)
Document release 4.3
Issued February 1999
Updated September 2013

Contents
Overview	1
How to start the macro	2
Syntax	2
Overview	2
Division into “slots”	3
Amendment type	3
Additions to amendment type (slot 1) where item heading includes description in parentheses	3
Abbreviations for units in the “affected text” component	4
Order in which units are specified in the “affected text” component	4
Special markers	5
When to use capitals	5
Italics etc. within words to be inserted, omitted etc.	5
Order of specifying words to be inserted	5
Examples	6
Overview
1	This macro is used when preparing a Schedule of amendments. The macro provides an abbreviated method for typing the amending “formulae”. It substantially reduces the number of keystrokes needed to produce the amending formula. It will also reduce the effort needed to remember the “right words” for an amending formula.
2	The macro makes a “best guess” for the style of the paragraph that follows the “action words” of an amending item. For example, if the amendment repeals and substitutes a new paragraph, the macro will apply the paragraph,a style.
3	The macro can handle most of the commonly occurring forms for amending legislation with standard layout, although its ability to handle amendments of provisions called regulations or subregulations is less than its ability to handle amendments of sections and subsections.
4	The macro is not designed to handle:
(a)	units described as rules, items etc. or any sub‑units of those units whose name reflects the unit name (e.g. subrules, subitems);
(b)	sub‑units of penalties, notes and examples (e.g. a paragraph of a penalty, note or example);
(c)	tables;
(d)	amendments of amending Schedules;
(e)	special formatting features like those found in Taxation and Social Security legislation.
How to start the macro
5	In the document, type the amending item number (which may be a “dummy number” for renumbering later, and may include letters) and 2 spaces, followed on the same line by the macro abbreviations. Then start the macro by using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Alt+A or Alt+Z.
Syntax
Overview
6	For ease of understanding, you can view abbreviations as made up of the following components, in order:
(a)	a component that specifies the type of amendment type (e.g. repeal)—always required;
(b)	a component that identifies the affected text of the principal legislation—always required;
(c)	a component that specifies text to be omitted, inserted etc.—sometimes required.
7	The following table shows these components for an amendment that omits “more than 20 kilos” from paragraph (a) of the definition of dog in subsection 6(1):
Example of components for an amendment	
Amendment type	Affected text	Text to be omitted etc.	
o	6 1 “dog” a	/more than 20 kilos/	
Division into “slots”
8	The macro divides the abbreviations into “slots”. Broadly speaking, the end of a slot is indicated by a space, quotes or slash (/). However, the entire contents within quotes or between slashes is treated as a single slot. For example, o 6 1 “big dog” /born in Kelso/ consists of 5 slots. Slot 1 always contains the abbreviation for the “action”. Some of the macro error messages identify the slot in which the error occurred.
Amendment type
9	Slot 1 uses an abbreviation to indicate the amendment type. The abbreviations are based on the first letter(s) of the amendment operation. For example, r = repeal, o = omit, a = add, ia = insert after.

Amendment TYPE (slot 1)	
Category	Abbreviation	Used for...	Comments	
REPEAL	r	Repeal a unit		
	rs	Repeal and substitute a unit		
OMIT	o	Omit words		
	os	Omit and substitute words		
INSERT	i	Insert (without specifying before or after)	Used only for definitions.	
	ia	Insert unit after unit usually of the same level or
Insert words after words		
	ib	Insert unit before unit usually of the same level or
Insert words before words		
ADD	a	Add unit at end of higher level unit or
Add words at end of unit		
Additions to amendment type (slot 1) where item heading includes description in parentheses
10	If an amendment involves one of the units in the following table, then the heading line of the amending item will end with a description in parentheses. For example, “Section 6 (penalty)”. These notes refer to such a heading as a “two-part heading”. The following abbreviations must be added at the end of slot 1, to indicate the content of the parentheses.

Two-part headings	
Unit	Add to slot 1...	Examples (using repeal)	Comments	
definition	[nothing]		A definition does not need a special marker in slot 1. It is identified by quotes around the defined term. A definition might be combined with one of the units below e.g. a note at the end of the definition.	
example	‑e...	r‑e
r‑e1
r‑e1;2		
heading	‑h	r‑h		
note	‑n...	r‑n
r‑n1
r‑n1;2		
penalty	‑p	r‑p		
table	‑t...	r‑t
r‑t1		
Abbreviations for units in the “affected text” component
11	No abbreviation is required for units from section down to sub‑subparagraph. For example, r 7 1 a will be interpreted as an instruction to repeal paragraph 7(1)(a). However, if the amending item is to mention a provision called a regulation or a subregulation, an abbreviation is required.
12	The following units must be explicitly identified by an abbreviation in slot 2 or later.

Abbreviations for names of units (slot 2 or later)	
Unit	Abbreviation	Example	Comments	
Act	act	act		
preamble	pre	pre		
long title	tit	tit		
Chapter	c	c2 = Chapter 2		
Part	p	p2 = Part 2		
Division	d	d2 = Division 2		
Subdivision	sd	sdA = Subdivision A		
regulation	rg	rg 10 = regulation 10	A space is needed between “rg” and the regulation number	
subregulation	sr	sr 11 2 = subregulation 11(2)	A space is needed between “sr” and the regulation number, and between the regulation and subregulation numbers	
Schedule	s	s2 = Schedule 2	s on its own indicates “the Schedule”	
Order in which units are specified in the “affected text” component
13	Units are always specified by starting with the largest. For example, c3 p2 d1 refers to “Division 1 of Part 2 of Chapter 3”. Similarly, 77 1 c refers to paragraph 77(1)(c).
14	For an amendment of a definition, the same principle applies to the subunits of the definition. For example 6 1 “dog” a i refers to “Subsection 6(1) (subparagraph (a)(i) of the definition of dog)”.
15	While an amendment of a subregulation needs to specify the regulation number before the subregulation number, only the abbreviation for subregulation (“sr”) is needed before the regulation number, not both an abbreviation for a regulation and an abbreviation for a subregulation. For example, sr 11 2 refers to “subregulation 11(2)”.
Special markers
16	The following special markers are used to allow the macro to interpret the abbreviated input.

Special markers	
#	Abbreviation	Details	Examples	Comments	
	:	indicates a range	6:12	Macro converts to “6 to 12”	
	;	indicates “and”	6;7
6;7;8	Macro converts to:
“6 and 7” or
“6, 7 and 8”	
	“ ”	indicates a definition	“special account”	Macro applies italics to defined term	
	/ /	indicates words to be omitted, substituted, inserted or added	/old words/
/old words/_wo/
/old words/new words/
/old words/_wo/new words/	Also used to identify the words before/after which some new words are to be inserted. eg
ia 6 /existing words/new words/	
	_wo	(wherever occurring)	o 6 /dog/_wo/
os 6 /dog/_wo/cat/	... omit “dog” (wherever occurring)
...omit “dog” (wherever occurring), substitute “cat”	
	_fo	(first occurring)	o 6 /dog/_fo/	... omit “dog” (first occurring)	
	_so	(second occurring)	o 6 /dog/_so/	... omit “dog” (second occurring)	
	_to	(third occurring)	o 6 /dog/_to/	... omit “dog” (third occurring)	
	_lo	(last occurring)	o 6 /dog/_lo/	... omit “dog” (last occurring)	
	_a	“all the words after”	o 6 /dog/_a/	...all the words after “dog”	

When to use capitals
17	If the text is to be inserted literally into the document, then use the proper capitalisation. This applies to: words to be omitted, inserted etc.; definition labels; and letters that identify a text unit (e.g. pIII when referring to Part III; sdAB when referring to Subdivision AB).
18	All other letters are lower case (i.e. the abbreviations in the tables above).
Italics etc. within words to be inserted, omitted etc.
19	If italic or bold is needed for any of the words within text to be inserted, omitted etc., then it should be applied after running the macro. If it is applied as part of the input, it will not be retained when the macro is run.
Order of specifying words to be inserted
20	When inserting words before or after existing words, the existing words are always specified first.
Examples
Examples	
Amending action	User types this...	Macro inserts this...	
Repeal
(unit)	r 6	Section 6
Repeal the section.	
	r 6 1 a	Paragraph 6(1)(a)
Repeal the paragraph.	
	r 6 1 “dog” a i	Subsection 6(1) (subparagraph (a)(i) of the definition of dog)
Repeal the subparagraph.	
	rs c6 p3 d4;5	Divisions 4 and 5 of Part 3 of Chapter 6
Repeal the Divisions, substitute:	
	rs c6 p3 d4:7	Divisions 4 to 7 of Part 3 of Chapter 6
Repeal the Divisions, substitute:	
	rs 6 1 “eligible payment”	Subsection 6(1) (definition of eligible payment)
Repeal the definition, substitute:	
	rs‑n1 6	Section 6 (note 1)
Repeal the note, substitute:	
	r act	The whole of the Act
Repeal the Act.	
	r sr 7 2	Subregulation 7(2)
Repeal the subregulation.	
Omit
(words)	o 6 1 “dog” a /wild/	Subsection 6(1) (paragraph (a) of the definition of dog)
Omit “wild”.	
	os 6 1 a /old words/new words/	Paragraph 6(1)(a)
Omit “old words”, substitute “new words”.	
	os 6 1 a /old words/_wo/new words/	Paragraph 6(1)(a)
Omit “old words” (wherever occurring), substitute “new words”.	
	o 6 1 /some words/_a/	Subsection 6(1)
Omit all the words after “some words”.	
	o rg 13 /redundant words/	Regulation 13
Omit “redundant words”.	
	os sr 14 3 /old/new/	Subregulation 14(3)
Omit “old”, substitute “new”.	
Insert
(definition)	i 6 1	Subsection 6(1)
Insert:	
	i rg 3	Regulation 3
Insert:	
	i sr 4 1	Subregulation 4(1)
Insert:	
Insert
(other unit)	ib c6 p2	Before Part 2 of Chapter 6
Insert:	
	ib 6 1 a	Before paragraph 6(1)(a)
Insert:	
	ia 6 1 a i	After subparagraph 6(1)(a)(i)
Insert:	
	ia rg 7	After regulation 7
Insert:	
	ia sr 8 3	After subregulation 8(3)
Insert:	
Insert (words)	ia 6 1 a /his/or her/ 	Paragraph 6(1)(a)
After “his”, insert “or her”.	
	ia 6 1 a /his/_wo/or her/ 	Paragraph 6(1)(a)
After “his” (wherever occurring), insert “or her”.	
	ia rg 8 /dog/or cat/	Regulation 8
After “dog”, insert “or cat”.	
	ia sr 9 1 /frog/or toad/	Subregulation 9(1)
After “frog”, insert “or toad”.	
Add
(unit)	a Act	At the end of the Act
Add:	
	a c3 p4 d3	At the end of Division 3 of Part 4 of Chapter 3
Add:	
	a 6	At the end of section 6
Add:	
	a 7 5	At the end of subsection 7(5)
Add:	
	a rg 8	At the end of regulation 8
Add:	
	a sr 9 3	At the end of subregulation 9(3)
Add:	
Add
(words)	a 6 1 a /on weekdays/	At the end of paragraph 6(1)(a)
Add “on weekdays”.	
	a 7 /on Saturdays/	At the end of section 7
Add “on Saturdays”.	
	a 8 2 /on Sundays/	At the end of subsection 8(2)
Add “On Sundays”.	
	a rg 9 /on public holidays/	At the end of regulation 9
Add “on public holidays”.	
	a sr 10 2 /on business days/	At the end of subregulation 10(2)
Add “on business days”.	

Abbreviations for amendment type (slot 1)	
Category	Abbreviation	Used for...	
REPEAL	r	Repeal a unit	
	rs	Repeal and substitute a unit	
OMIT	o	Omit words	
	os	Omit and substitute words	
INSERT	i	Insert (without specifying before or after). Used only when inserting a definition.	
	ia	Insert unit after unit or Insert words after words	
	ib	Insert unit before unit or Insert words before words	
ADD	a	Add unit at end of unit or Add words at end of unit	

Abbreviations for two‑part headings (add to slot 1)	
Unit	Abbreviation	Examples (using repeal)	
definition	[nothing]	r 6 1 “dog”	
example	‑e...	r‑e1	
heading	‑h	r‑h	
note	‑n...	r‑n1;2	
penalty	‑p	r‑p	
table	‑t...	r‑t	

Abbreviations for names of units (slot 2 or later)	
Unit	Abbreviation	Example	
Act	act	act	
preamble	pre	pre	
long title	tit	tit	
Chapter	c	c2 = Chapter 2	
Part	p	p2 = Part 2   pIII = Part III	
Division	d	d2 = Division 2	
Subdivision	sd	sdA = Subdivision A	
regulation	rg	rg 10 = regulation 10	
subregulation	sr	sr 11 2 = subregulation 11(2)	
Schedule	s	s = the Schedule s2 = Schedule 2	

Miscellaneous abbreviations	
Function	Abbreviation	Examples	
plural: range	:	6:12 = “6 to 12”	
plural: list	;	6;7;8 = “6, 7 and 8”	
definition	“ ”	“special account”	
indicates words to be omitted, substituted, etc.	/ /	/old words/
/old words/_wo/
/old words/new words/
/old words/_wo/new words/	
(wherever occurring)	_wo	o 6 /dog/_wo/
os 6 /dog/_wo/cat/	
(first occurring)	_fo	o 6 /dog/_fo/	
(second occurring)	_so	o 6 /dog/_so/	
(third occurring)	_to	o 6 /dog/_to/	
(last occurring)	_lo	o 6 /dog/_lo/	
“all the words after”	_a	o 6 /dog/_a/	
Order of units (slot 2 or later): Always specify the largest unit first eg:
6 1 a = paragraph 6(1)(a)
c3 p2 d1 = Division 1 of Part 2 of Chapter 3

Andrew Newbery
IT Director

Document History	
Release number	Release date	Document number	
1.0	20 April 2006	s05pu382.v01.doc	
2.0	02 August 2006	s05pu382.v02.doc	
3.0	06 September 2006	s05pu382.v03.doc	
4.0	15 September 2006	s05pu382.v04.doc	
4.1	4 April 2012	s05pu382.v09.docx	
4.2	25 January 2013	s05pu382.v12.docx	
4.3	3 September 2013	s05pu382.v14.docx