The glosses of ASL in this book consist of three lines plus an optional fourth. The top line, if present, shows the direction of the signer's gaze. The next three lines describe what the signer's hands are doing: The first, labeled rh, shows the right hand when it acts alone; the middle, labeled both, shows what the hands do together; and the bottom, labeled lh, shows what the left hand does on its own. A long dash following a gloss indicates that the sign is held by one hand while the other hand articulates another sign.

Lexical items are glossed by English words in small capital letters (e.g., better). A hyphen joining two English words indicates a multiword gloss of a lexical sign (e.g., look-at). A plus symbol joining two English words indicates that the sign is a compound (e.g., mother+father “parents”). A plus symbol following a sign indicates that the sign is repeated (e.g., learn++). A number symbol preceding a gloss indicates a finger-spelled loan sign (e.g., #ASL).

Pronouns are glossed using the form PRO-X, where X is a number giving the person of the pronoun. Three types of pronouns appear in this text: PRO, the general pronoun form; POSS-PRO, the possessive pronoun; and RESPECT-PRO, a special form indicating respect.

Classifiers' glosses consist of the letters CL, followed by an abbreviation for the classifier handshape, followed by a description of the classifier's meaning.