/** see if the word is an already learnt word.
     @return bool
     @param string word
     */
 function wordExists($word)
 {
     $crit = new Criteria('word', $word);
     $ret = $this->con->query('SELECT COUNT(*) as WordCount FROM ' . $this->con->prefix('xhelp_bayes_wordfreqs') . $crit->renderWhere());
     if (!$ret) {
         return false;
     } else {
         $arr = $this->con->fetchRow($ret);
         return $arr['WordCount'] > 0;
     }
 }