//extract a word from fin
ifstream& getWord(ifstream& fin, string& w)
{
	char c;

	w = "";	// clear the string of characters

	while (fin.get(c) && !isalpha(c))
		;	// do nothing. just ignore c

	// return on end-of-file
	if (fin.eof())
		return fin;

	// record first letter of the word
	w += tolower(c);

	// collect letters and digits
	while (fin.get(c) && (isalpha(c) || isdigit(c)))
		w += tolower(c);

	return fin;
}