function SelectText(element) {
    var doc = document,
            text = doc.getElementById(element),
            range,
            selection;
    if (doc.body.createTextRange) {
        range = document.body.createTextRange();
        range.moveToElementText(text);
        range.select();
    } else if (window.getSelection) {
        selection = window.getSelection();
        range = document.createRange();
        range.selectNodeContents(text);
        selection.removeAllRanges();
        selection.addRange(range);
    }
}

$(function() {
    $('p').click(function() {
        SelectText('selectme');
    });
});

$(document).ready(function()
{
    var words=$("#yourTextContainer").text().split(' ');
    $("#yourTextContainer").html("");

    $.each(words, function(i,val)
    {
        //wrap each word in a span tag
        $('<span/>').text(val +" ").appendTo("#yourTextContainer");
    });

    $("#yourTextContainer span").live("click",function(event)
    {
        event.stopPropagation();
        SelectText($(this));
    });
});

function SelectText(element)
{
    var doc = document,
            text = element.get(0),
            range,
            selection;
    if (doc.body.createTextRange)
    {
        range = document.body.createTextRange();
        range.moveToElementText(text);
        range.select();
    }
    else if (window.getSelection)
    {
        selection = window.getSelection();
        range = document.createRange();
        range.selectNodeContents(text);
        selection.removeAllRanges();
        selection.addRange(range);
    }
}

document.onclick = globalOnClickHandler;

function globalOnClickHandler() {
    var s = window.getSelection();
    var w = s;
    s.modify('move','backward','word');
    w.modify('extend','forward','word');
    //alert(w.toString()); // you can get selected word
}