Question about the meaning of "Find all word forms" option

[sheana]

Hi,

When I use the Find feature in Word 2003, and I use the word "plant" as my
search term, why do "planted" and "plants"come up, but not "planter"?

 

[CyberTaz]

Good question The best answer I can offer is that 'planted' & 'plants'
are considered as forms of the word 'plant' but 'planter' is a *different*
word based on the same root word... Either that or it's just a bug;-)

Keep in mind that *no* automated spell check, grammar check, word form
feature, etc. is 100% accurate.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[sheana]

Thank you Cyber Taz, your explanation does help. Perhaps MS Word is drawing
its' information from a customized database that associates certain words
because of their meaning, and not just their spelling. Happy New Year!

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

This is a correct assumption. You can find words that contain the same
letters using wildcards, but choosing "all word forms" allows you to search
for, say, "is" and also find "are," "were," "be," etc. The search is based
on a grammar-based lexicon.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA