sub cleanup_start_words {
    my $text = $_[0];
    my @split = split //, $text;
    my @keywords = split //, $_[1];

    return $text;

# nothing from here down ever gets executed.

##</code><code>##

sub delete_initial_phrase
{
    my ( $phrase ) = @_;

    if ( $phrase =~ /([!,.:)])/ ) {
        my $punc = $1;
        return substr( $phrase, 1 + index( $phrase, $punc ));
    }
    else {
        return $phrase;
    }
}

##</code><code>##

blah blah!) Foo bar, and so on...

##</code><code>##

    if ( $phrase =~ /([!,.:)]+)/ ) {

##</code><code>##

        return substr( $phrase, length($punc) + index( $phrase, $punc ));