private int getShort() throws IOException
    {
        inFile = new File ("tjefferson.txt");

                    BufferedReader fileIn3;

                    String[] sentences = new String[200];

                    int shortest, shortLocation;

        String delims = "[?.]";

        shortLocation = 0;

        fileIn3 = new BufferedReader( new FileReader ( inFile ));

        line3 = new String( fileIn3.readLine() );

        while ( line3 != null )
        {
            shortest = sentences[0].length();
            sentences = line3.split(delims);

            for (int i = 0; i < sentences.length; i++)
            {
                if ( sentences[i].length() < shortest )
                {
                    shortest = sentences[i].length();
                    shortLocation = i;

                } // end if

            } // for loop

            line3 = fileIn3.readLine();

        } // end while

        shortest = sentences[shortLocation].length();

        return shortest;

    } // getShort method