Find Verbs in a String - c

Question

I am trying (and having trouble) to write a program (In C) that accepts a string in the command line (eg. $ test.out "This is a string") and looks through the string to find verbs (and nouns, but if I figure out verbs, I can do nouns on my own).
A list of aplphabetically sorted verbs is given in the file lexicon.h, and is what I am supposed to use as my dictionary.
I know how to accept the string from the command line and use that input to create an array of strings, each string itself being a separate word, and I already have a working program that can do that, and that I hope to use part of for this one.
I am supposed to create a function called binary_search(...stuffgoeshere...) and use that to search through the lexicon file and find the verb.
I would like some suggestions or guidance on how to create a function (binary_search) that can check to see if an already separated word matches any on the list in lexicon.h. I do not want someone to just write an answer, I would like to know why you are suggesting what you do. Hopefully I can learn something fun out of this!
I know it's messy, but this is what I have so far.
Also note that lexicon's verb array has 637 values (as seen when I make int size = 637)
This program does not compile anymore, as I have not yet figured out how to make the binary_search function work yet. I am trying to modify a binary search function used in an example for class, however, that one sorted numbers in a text file, not strings of characters.
If there is anything else I should include, let me know. Thank you for your help!
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include "lexicon.h"
int binary_search(char word[], char verbs[][], int size);
int
main(int argc, char*argv[])
{
char word[80];
char str[80],
args[80][80];
int counter = 0,
a = 0,
i = 0,
index = 0,
t = 0;
while(str[a] != '\0')
{
if(str[a] == ' ')
{
args[index][i] = '\0';
i = 0;
a++;
index ++;
counter ++;
}
args[index][i++] = str[a++];
}
args[index][i] = '\0';
counter = counter + 1;
printf("\nThe verbs were: ");
int verbposition= -1;
int size = 637;
while(t<counter)
{
strcpy(word, args[t]);
verbposition = binary_search(word, verbs, size);
if(verbposition > -1)
printf("%s", args[t]);
t++;
}
return 0;
}
int
binary_search(char word[], char &verbs[][], int size)
{
int bottom = 0,
top = size - 1,
found = 0,
middle;
while(bottom <= top && !found)
{
middle = (bottom + top) / 2;
if(strcmp(word, verbs[middle]))
{
found = 1;
return = middle;
}
if(strcmp(word, verbs[middle]) > 0)
{
top = middle - 1;
}
else
bottom = middle + 1;
}
return -1;
}

Answer 1

You are on the right track. I would highly suggest you to use print statements as you will have a clear idea of where you are going wrong.