The present invention relates to speech recognition using selectable recognition modes. This includes innovations such as: large vocabulary speech recognition programming that supplies recognized words to external program as they are recognized, and allows a user to select between large vocabulary recognition of an utterance with and without language context from the prior utterance independently of state of the external program; allowing a user to select between continuous and discrete speech recognition that use substantially the same vocabulary; allowing a user to select between continuous and discrete large-vocabulary speech recognition modes; allowing a user to select between at least two different alphabetic entry speech recognition modes; and allowing a user to select from among four or more of the following recognitions modes when creating text: a large-vocabulary mode, an alphabetic entry mode, a number entry mode, and a punctuation entry mode.