the region 205 provides visual feedback when the hold status of the present invention has been reached fig4 shows the primary mode 301 and the auxiliary mode 302 to access the auxiliary mode 302 a user taps a toggle button 303 or other button as is known in the art a u201c mode u201d as used herein is expansive in nature it is intended to relate to operation of the primary input device or stylus switching between operations of the stylus or other input device is referenced as switching modes as apparent to the user the underlying system implementing the invention is not constrained to operate in predefined modes rather the system implementing the present invention may operate in states or may respond to actions including toggling of buttons or events that system interprets as suggesting a change in operation mode of a primary input device or stylus the auxiliary mode includes erasing for example erasing input ink or handwriting highlighting for example adding a translucent ink to existing ink or text or selecting objects the selection mode permits a user to draw selection ink around objects or through objects and have the objects selected for example the user may use a stroke or a hold and drag gesture to start the selection ink mode as described in greater detail in u s ser no 60 240 772 entitled u201c highlevel active pen matrix u201d filed nov 10 2000 incorporated herein by reference for essential subject matter to return back to back to the primary mode 301 a user may again toggle the toggle button.