This is a set of simple, free tools for analyzing, exploring, and dividing plain texts.
The tools are available in the simple, menu-driven Python program. Some are rather trivial and none of them claims to be perfect or optimized. Probably the most important tool is the Apostrophe_Project, which accepts a plain text file, partially corrects it to prevent potential problems in text-analysis, and marks it up for further semi-automated correction. It addresses the long-standing and usually ignored problem that the single quotation mark and the apostrophe are indistinguishable in plain text files. It replaces the following characters with separate symbols that are not already in the text:
• Internal apostrophes: presumably real apostrophes
• Non-internal apostrophes preceding capital letters: usually scare quotes or dialogue marked with single quotation marks
• Non-internal apostrophes following a word-final “s”: usually plural possessives
• Non-internal apostrophes in very commonly used contracted forms: ’em, an’, ’twas, and so forth
• Non-internal apostrophes between other breaking characters: essentially never anything but single quotation marks