ClearCut
                                 
                A Text File Clarification Program
                                by
                     Imagination Enterprises
                                 
                           Mark Lefler


	ClearCut is a program that can improve the clarity of
your writing.  ClearCut quickly looks for bad, overblown or
confusing words, and suggests replacements for these words.
ClearCut is very good at getting rid of "governmentese" that may
have snuck into your writing.  
	When you use ClearCut, the program will examine your text
file, and suggest changes.  Your file will be copied and these
changes added to the new file.  Words that the program finds
confusing, unclear, or overblown are marked with a >>, and
suggested changes added after the word.  For instance, if the
program finds the word "examine", it may suggest that the word
"look" might be more clare, like this:

                         examine>>look<<

	After running the program, you can edit the new file and
search for >>.  You can then make the suggested change, or delete
the suggestion.
	The output from the program can go to a new text file,
the screen, or both.  The changes can be displayed on the screen
or the text file.
	After the program has examined the file, it will give you
information about how many words there are in your file.  It also
gives an average length of words.  Shorter words are generally
clearer.


USING THE PROGRAM

	ClearCut should only be used on ASCII text files.  Check
your word processor manual to make sure your files are in ASCII
format.  To use ClearCut, make sure the CLEARCUT.COM file, the
BADWORDS.TXT file and your text file are on the current disk,
then type:

                        CLEARCUT <Return>

Then just follow the simple instructions.  If you want, you can
tell CLEARCUT the name of the file you want to have checked in a
single line, like shown:

                   CLEARCUT SAMPLE.TXT <Return>

where SAMPLE.TXT is the file you want examined.  You can use this
file, CLEARCUT.TXT, as an example.


CHANGING OR ADDING YOUR OWN BADWORDS

	You can modify the file of "bad words" and replacemments.
This file is called BADWORDS.TXT.  The first entry is a "bad
word", the second entry is the replacement for the "bad word".
This pattern continues with other "badwords" for the rest of the
file.  To add your own words using your favorite text processor
program, just insert them at the end of the list, along with your
suggested replacements.  Each "bad word" should appear on a line
by itself.  Also, the  replacements should be on a single line,
and must immediately follow the bad word.  The next time ClearCut
is run, the list will be resorted, and the file rewritten.


FINALLY

	If you find ClearCut useful, then send a suggested $5
contribution to:

                      IMAGINATION ENTERPRISES
                          223 Arbor Lane
                      Bryans Road, MD  20616

Questions and comments may be sent to the same address.  If you
send a formatted disk, the source file listing in Pascal will
also be sent.