Using Grammarly
The program Grammarly is a great tool that saves time, money and makes my life better. Its purpose is to do a better job of grammar checking than the built-in grammar checking programs. The result is a document that reads better due to less grammatical errors.
There are of course critics and they point out that all grammar-checking programs make mistakes. They also point out that the result of these programs make documents read bland and they lack the raw spark of an un-proofread document. Anti-big brother critics also point out that Grammarly sends the document to a server to be processed which is a security and privacy issue.
For me, I am grateful for any help I can get. Good documents show readers how much effort an author puts into their work. Bad grammar trips up readers and causes negative comments.
On a personal level, it is no secret that my grammar is at best fair. The term “fair” is an upgrade from “poor.” I attribute this upgrade to two factors. The first is that my writing efforts have improved my grammar abilities. The second is that the English language bar has been lowered by the internet. Anybody to publish, post, unintentionally share their work. As a result, every conceivable document is available for public viewing and the vast majority of them haven’t been proofread.
When I use Grammarly, I use it like any other tool. I evaluate its suggestions and make changes where I feel appropriate. Overall, I like its suggestions and it is clear that the tool is getting better.
Grammarly does have its drawbacks. It’s very slow and it has big gaps. For example, it trips up on using the word “who” as opposed to “whom.” It also misses the big picture such as putting in paragraph breaks or adding quotes. Grammarly also does not process slang, intentional poor grammar or technical terms.
Even with its drawbacks, I see a big improvement in my documents. They look more professional and I find the errors they catch to be true mistakes. I see a big future with programs like Grammarly. AI is going to make a massive contribution in this area. Microsoft now has a big gap exposed in its product and I look forward to their response. With some luck, the overall quality of all documents will be raised.
You’re the best -Bill
January 10, 2019
There are of course critics and they point out that all grammar-checking programs make mistakes. They also point out that the result of these programs make documents read bland and they lack the raw spark of an un-proofread document. Anti-big brother critics also point out that Grammarly sends the document to a server to be processed which is a security and privacy issue.
For me, I am grateful for any help I can get. Good documents show readers how much effort an author puts into their work. Bad grammar trips up readers and causes negative comments.
On a personal level, it is no secret that my grammar is at best fair. The term “fair” is an upgrade from “poor.” I attribute this upgrade to two factors. The first is that my writing efforts have improved my grammar abilities. The second is that the English language bar has been lowered by the internet. Anybody to publish, post, unintentionally share their work. As a result, every conceivable document is available for public viewing and the vast majority of them haven’t been proofread.
When I use Grammarly, I use it like any other tool. I evaluate its suggestions and make changes where I feel appropriate. Overall, I like its suggestions and it is clear that the tool is getting better.
Grammarly does have its drawbacks. It’s very slow and it has big gaps. For example, it trips up on using the word “who” as opposed to “whom.” It also misses the big picture such as putting in paragraph breaks or adding quotes. Grammarly also does not process slang, intentional poor grammar or technical terms.
Even with its drawbacks, I see a big improvement in my documents. They look more professional and I find the errors they catch to be true mistakes. I see a big future with programs like Grammarly. AI is going to make a massive contribution in this area. Microsoft now has a big gap exposed in its product and I look forward to their response. With some luck, the overall quality of all documents will be raised.
You’re the best -Bill
January 10, 2019
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