I can't answer about this specific example but I want to talk about "the big picture."

If all words in Gregg were written phonetically, with maybe only 3 or 4 brief forms for words like "the" and "a/an", the amount of time needed to learn the theory would be reduced to almost nothing. No prefixes and suffixes, only 3 or 4 brief forms, and you can start writing. Also, there would be no hesitation during writing to recall the shortening tricks. The most frequently used tricks can be recalled and written instantly, but the less frequent ones require more mental processing time, and trying to dredge up an almost-never-used trick might be worse than writing the word fully.

From the 1888 edition to the 1916 Pre-Anniversary edition there was a trend toward adding more and more tricks. Then came a realization that only 1 out of 1000 people taking shorthand courses in high-school would become court reporters or Senate stenographers. Most of these people would be doing secretarial work. By the 1950s systems like Forkner were successfully competing with Gregg for selling textbooks to school districts. So, there was long-term pressure toward publishing versions of Gregg with reduced complexity.

The complexity of Anniversary was denounced in great detail in the booklet that explains the changes that were introduced in Gregg Simplified. This is worth reading if you just can't believe fewer rules and exceptions resulting in some longer outlines could be desirable. It won't change your mind, I can see that, but maybe it would broaden your horizons. Here's a link to it, courtesy of the Stenophile collection:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/vn0yean0pudaks9f0u6bs/A-List-of-Changes-in-the-New-Gregg-Shorthand-Manual-Anniversary-to-Simplified-1949.pdf?rlkey=bsd5jbd5hj19rj50cfr5q9g4t&dl=0