Spelling Has "ahs"

Spelling Has "ahs"

Hi,

I have a user who keeps typing ahs instead of has, however, the spell check 
seems to accept ahs, despite it not being in the custom.dic.

I have tested this on several other machines, and they all allow ahs - as 
far as I am aware ahs is not an english word, so why does it allow it (and 
can it be stopped!)

Thanks!

Toby...

date: Tue, 3 Jun 2008 12:32:49 +0100 author: Toby

Re: Spelling Has "ahs"

"Toby"  wrote in message 
news:48452b81$0$662$bed64819@news.gradwell.net...

> I have a user who keeps typing ahs instead of has, however, the spell 
> check seems to accept ahs, despite it not being in the custom.dic.
>
> I have tested this on several other machines, and they all allow ahs - as 
> far as I am aware ahs is not an english word, so why does it allow it (and 
> can it be stopped!)

(What I'm about to say applies to Word 2003, Word 2002, and some earlier 
versions. I don't know if it applies to later versions than those.)

You need to put "ahs" in what's called an "exception dictionary". The file 
has the same name as the ".lex" files used for spell-checking (mine, for 
example are "MSSP3EN.LEX" and "MSSP3TR.LEX") except that they must have the 
extension ".exc" rather than ".lex", so the corresponding exception 
dictionary names in my case are "mssp3en.exc" and "mssp3tr.exc". Your .lex 
files are in the "program files\common files\microsoft shared\proof" folder. 
The .exc file goes in the same folder as your custom.dic file.

In the .exc file you put spellings which are passed by Word's proof-reader 
but which you don't want such as "theatre", "savour", and "ahs" for example. 
You have to restart Word for the exception dictionary to take effect.

Another thing your user can do is make an autocorrect entry that 
automatically changes "ahs" to "has" whenever it's typed.

I find it's best to do both.

-- 
Bob
http://www.kanyak.com

date: Tue, 3 Jun 2008 18:12:56 +0300 author: Opinicus

Re: Spelling Has "ahs"

"Opinicus"  wrote in message 
news:eKvQQxYxIHA.3384@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> "Toby"  wrote in message 
> news:48452b81$0$662$bed64819@news.gradwell.net...
>
>> I have a user who keeps typing ahs instead of has, however, the spell 
>> check seems to accept ahs, despite it not being in the custom.dic.
>>
>> I have tested this on several other machines, and they all allow ahs - as 
>> far as I am aware ahs is not an english word, so why does it allow it 
>> (and can it be stopped!)
>
> (What I'm about to say applies to Word 2003, Word 2002, and some earlier 
> versions. I don't know if it applies to later versions than those.)
>
> You need to put "ahs" in what's called an "exception dictionary". The file 
> has the same name as the ".lex" files used for spell-checking (mine, for 
> example are "MSSP3EN.LEX" and "MSSP3TR.LEX") except that they must have 
> the extension ".exc" rather than ".lex", so the corresponding exception 
> dictionary names in my case are "mssp3en.exc" and "mssp3tr.exc". Your .lex 
> files are in the "program files\common files\microsoft shared\proof" 
> folder. The .exc file goes in the same folder as your custom.dic file.
>
> In the .exc file you put spellings which are passed by Word's proof-reader 
> but which you don't want such as "theatre", "savour", and "ahs" for 
> example. You have to restart Word for the exception dictionary to take 
> effect.
>
> Another thing your user can do is make an autocorrect entry that 
> automatically changes "ahs" to "has" whenever it's typed.
>
> I find it's best to do both.
>
> -- 
> Bob
> http://www.kanyak.com

Thanks Bob, I will give it a go tomorrow!

Toby...

date: Tue, 3 Jun 2008 18:21:29 +0100 author: Toby

Re: Spelling Has "ahs"

Hello,

Opinicus is right and it is also possible to add "ahs" to the exclude 
dictionary in Office 2007 (look for "exclude dictionary" or "exclusion 
dictionary" in the Office Help - it's pretty much the same procedure as the 
one described below).

Note that the new context-sensitive speller in Office 2007 flags a number of 
contexts where "ahs" should not be used (that would probably address your 
user's problem). You will see a blue squiggly line under "ahs" if you write 
something like "He ahs never done it before", for instance. But you will not 
get any flag under "ahs" if you write "we definitely got oohs and ahs all 
around when we launched this product". See this blog for more information 
about the contextual speller:
http://blogs.msdn.com/naturallanguage/archive/tags/contextual+speller/default.aspx

Note that I would not recommend adding "savour" to the exclude dictionary. 
If you set the language of your text to US English, it will be flagged. If 
you set it to UK English, it will not be squiggled, since it's the correct 
spelling in British English. The speller enables you to capture these UK/US 
distinctions without having to resort to the exclude dictionary.

I hope this helps,

Thierry

Thierry Fontenelle [MSFT]
Microsoft Natural Language Group

"Opinicus" wrote:

> "Toby"  wrote in message 
> news:48452b81$0$662$bed64819@news.gradwell.net...
> 
> > I have a user who keeps typing ahs instead of has, however, the spell 
> > check seems to accept ahs, despite it not being in the custom.dic.
> >
> > I have tested this on several other machines, and they all allow ahs - as 
> > far as I am aware ahs is not an english word, so why does it allow it (and 
> > can it be stopped!)
> 
> (What I'm about to say applies to Word 2003, Word 2002, and some earlier 
> versions. I don't know if it applies to later versions than those.)
> 
> You need to put "ahs" in what's called an "exception dictionary". The file 
> has the same name as the ".lex" files used for spell-checking (mine, for 
> example are "MSSP3EN.LEX" and "MSSP3TR.LEX") except that they must have the 
> extension ".exc" rather than ".lex", so the corresponding exception 
> dictionary names in my case are "mssp3en.exc" and "mssp3tr.exc". Your .lex 
> files are in the "program files\common files\microsoft shared\proof" folder. 
> The .exc file goes in the same folder as your custom.dic file.
> 
> In the .exc file you put spellings which are passed by Word's proof-reader 
> but which you don't want such as "theatre", "savour", and "ahs" for example. 
> You have to restart Word for the exception dictionary to take effect.
> 
> Another thing your user can do is make an autocorrect entry that 
> automatically changes "ahs" to "has" whenever it's typed.
> 
> I find it's best to do both.
> 
> -- 
> Bob
> http://www.kanyak.com 
> 
> 
>

date: Tue, 3 Jun 2008 11:04:01 -0700 author: Thierry Fontenelle [MSFT] _nospam