Patent ID: 7599828

Claim:
A method of identifying a properly spelled word from an input string, the method comprising: a processor receiving an input string representing a misspelled word, the word being misspelled based in part on a contraction; the processor identifying a first part of the input string as representing a part of a possible contraction of two words by searching a lexicon storage structure and locating a text string designated as a first complete word that ends in an apostrophe and matches the first part of the input string with the exception of the apostrophe and case differences, the located text string designated as a first complete word being one of a set of text strings consisting of: l′, d′, n′, c′, j′, m′, t′, s′, qu′, puisqu′, lorsqu′, presqu′, jusqu′, quioiqu′, and ç′; the processor determining if the next letter in the input string after the first part of the input string is a vowel and if the next letter is not a vowel, the processor determining that the first part of the input string does not represent part of a contraction; the processor identifying a second part of the input string as representing a second complete word in the lexicon storage structure; the processor retrieving grammatical information for the second complete word from the lexicon storage structure; the processor using the grammatical information to determine if the second complete word satisfies a grammatical constraint of the first complete word wherein the grammatical constraint for the first complete word j′ requires that the second complete word be either a first person verb or a pronoun, wherein the grammatical constraint for the first complete word t′ requires that the second complete word be a verb or pronoun, wherein the grammatical constraint for the first complete word s′ requires the second complete word to be a third person verb or a pronoun, wherein the grammatical constraints for the first complete words m′ and n′ require the second complete word to be a verb or a pronoun; and wherein the grammatical constraints for the first complete words c′ and ç′ require the second complete word to be a third person verb that is also an auxiliary verb; and the processor identifying a contraction formed by combining the first part of the input string, an apostrophe and the second complete word in the lexicon storage structure into a properly spelled word based on the determination that the second complete word satisfied the grammatical constraint.