1. A method of preparing a patent application having a description section and a claims section and an abstract section by using a computer program comprising the steps of: manually highlighting elements in the patent application having a common noun; recognizing ( 22 ) a first element designated by the common noun preceded by a first primary adjective, associating ( 24 ) a first reference numeral with the common noun preceded by the first primary adjective to reference the first element, recognizing ( 26 ) a second element designated by the common noun preceded by a second primary adjective, associating ( 28 ) a second reference numeral with the common noun preceded by the second primary adjective to reference the second element, scanning ( 38 ) at least one section of the patent application for each occurrence of the common noun, automatically inserting ( 40 ) the first reference numeral following the common noun in response to each recitation of the common noun preceded by the first primary adjective ( 42 ) to reference the first element throughout said least one section of the patent application, automatically inserting ( 44 ) the second reference numeral following the common noun in response to each recitation of the common noun preceded by the second primary adjective ( 46 ) to reference the second element throughout said at least one section the patent application, and characterized by automatically inserting ( 72 ) the first and second reference numerals following the common noun in response to each recitation of the common noun unmodified by an adjective ( 74 ) to reference the first and second elements throughout said at least one section the patent application.