Partial matching text in a vocabulary database

[mrqrc]

I'm a teacher and I have a vocabulary database of common English words--and the many derivatives of those words--that I want to teach my ESL students.


I've manipulated the database to the point that it looks like this:

Singular Noun	Plural Noun	Base Verb Form	First Person Singular Verb Form	Present Participle	Past Participle	Adjective	Comparative Form
ability
	abilities
inability
						able
							abler
						unable
absence
	absences
		absent

<tbody>
</tbody>

However, I'd like group the data by word form into rows, like this:

Singular Noun	Plural Noun	Base Verb Form	First Person Singular Verb Form	Present Participle	Past Participle	Adjective	Comparative Form
ability	abilities					able	abler
inability						unable
absence	absences	absent

<tbody>
</tbody>

I know that the formula or macro will involve finding partial matches throughout the entire spread sheet and then creating a command to move the partially matching cells into a single row, but as a novice Excel user, I have no idea how to even begin developing such a formula.


If any one can provide any guidance on this problem, I'd be most appreciative.

 

[Jerry Sullivan]

Hi and Welcome to the Board,

If each collection of word forms that you want to have combined in a single row are grouped in consecutive rows, then this would be feasible to do with VBA. The approach of searching the entire worksheet for partial matches scattered throughout the sheet would be extremely difficult if not impossible to do correctly.

I presume that if someone has manually generated and categorized these words to get them entered in the worksheet, then each collection to be grouped would be "together" in the worksheet.

If that's the case, I'd be glad to try helping with your project. If so, please upload a file with example data to a hosting site like Box.com and post a link on this thread.