protected String convertWord(String word){
  word=word.toUpperCase();
  if (ignoreList.contains(word)) {
    return null;
  }
  return word;
}

protected String convertWord ( String word ) { word = word . toUpperCase ( ) ; if ( ignoreList . contains ( word ) ) { return null ; } return word ; }
convert a word to uppercase . this method returns null if the word is in the ignore list .
