Brian Scott Allen
Dark Lord
So I just downloaded and decided to try out Grammarly. I'm using the free version of it. What is this program particularly good at and what is it particularly poor at doing?
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Grammarly
- Thread starter Brian Scott Allen
- Start date
ccrogers3d
Journeyman
I subscribed to the premium version of Grammarly for a month, to help me self-edit my novel. I found it helpful, but it's no substitute for hiring an editor.
The browser-plugin is nice because it flags common mistakes anywhere that I'm writing online. (Including this post, for example!)
The website lets me write (or copy/paste) blocks of text to check. Unfortunately, it can't handle large enough documents to put a novel there.
Because of that limitation, I used the Word plug-in. It's not bad, but it has a few serious limitations: it disables auto-save, it disables Undo, and it can be slow at times. Personally, I found the fact that it disables Undo to be the worst problem. I could only enable the plug-in when I wanted to check the document, rather than just having it on while I was writing.
For me, Grammarly found many false positives and also failed to flag some of my grammatical mistakes. However, Grammarly also found many legitimate errors. It's difficult for me to edit my own writing; I tend to see what I meant to write rather than what I actually wrote. Grammarly helped me spot areas that needed my attention. Also, it helped teach me about things I didn't know much about (e.g. subjunctive mood) which I then researched more on my own.
In the end, I decided not to continue with the premium subscription. The free version catches many issues, just not as many as the premium version. (Also, the free version doesn't include use of the Word plug-in).
I'm still using the browser plug-in to help me catch grammatical mistakes anywhere that I'm writing text online, and I think it's a good tool. I'd recommend it.
The browser-plugin is nice because it flags common mistakes anywhere that I'm writing online. (Including this post, for example!)
The website lets me write (or copy/paste) blocks of text to check. Unfortunately, it can't handle large enough documents to put a novel there.
Because of that limitation, I used the Word plug-in. It's not bad, but it has a few serious limitations: it disables auto-save, it disables Undo, and it can be slow at times. Personally, I found the fact that it disables Undo to be the worst problem. I could only enable the plug-in when I wanted to check the document, rather than just having it on while I was writing.
For me, Grammarly found many false positives and also failed to flag some of my grammatical mistakes. However, Grammarly also found many legitimate errors. It's difficult for me to edit my own writing; I tend to see what I meant to write rather than what I actually wrote. Grammarly helped me spot areas that needed my attention. Also, it helped teach me about things I didn't know much about (e.g. subjunctive mood) which I then researched more on my own.
In the end, I decided not to continue with the premium subscription. The free version catches many issues, just not as many as the premium version. (Also, the free version doesn't include use of the Word plug-in).
I'm still using the browser plug-in to help me catch grammatical mistakes anywhere that I'm writing text online, and I think it's a good tool. I'd recommend it.
I just finished the current round of edits on my WIP using Grammarly and ProWritingAid.
Grammarly - for me, anyhow - is good at spotting missing or misplaced commas and apostrophes. I have issues with both, and can stand all the help I can get. It also points out repeated words and offers suggestions (if you enable that feature). According to Grammarly, I also have issues with missing hyphens and squinting modifiers.
There is also a plagiarism feature I find puzzling: it says I should give credit to common phrases of 8 or 10 words that it highlights on occasion.
It also tells me that certain words are politically incorrect and may be offensive: 'foreman,' 'crippled,' and 'madhouse,' being the ones I can remember right off. PC run amok in my view.
It also loathes prepositions at the end of sentences 'please remember the reader.'
Overall, I deem it usable and of some value.
ProWritingAid I use differently. This program is relentless at spotting overused and vague words. I use this feature to check for adverbs, though some of the words it deems vague are quite specific.
Another feature I use with ProWritingAid is checking for 'sticky sentences' - sentences containing too many 'glue' words. Most of these I either delete or rewrite. The program also flags things like repeated sentence starts (beginning 3 or more sentences with the same word, and spots other grammar issues.) It also keeps tabs on pronouns, especially sentences that start with pronouns. I found this helpful with the WIP, as it is first person, hence a lot of pronouns.
But, that said, ProWritingAid's approach sucks. Grammarly will give you the whole document with issues highlighted or underlined. Each separate section of ProWritingAid just pulls specific sentences and phrases from the whole, so the same sentence can get repeated like five or six times.
But overall, ProWritingAid is (barely) worth the cost, at least for me.
Grammarly - for me, anyhow - is good at spotting missing or misplaced commas and apostrophes. I have issues with both, and can stand all the help I can get. It also points out repeated words and offers suggestions (if you enable that feature). According to Grammarly, I also have issues with missing hyphens and squinting modifiers.
There is also a plagiarism feature I find puzzling: it says I should give credit to common phrases of 8 or 10 words that it highlights on occasion.
It also tells me that certain words are politically incorrect and may be offensive: 'foreman,' 'crippled,' and 'madhouse,' being the ones I can remember right off. PC run amok in my view.
It also loathes prepositions at the end of sentences 'please remember the reader.'
Overall, I deem it usable and of some value.
ProWritingAid I use differently. This program is relentless at spotting overused and vague words. I use this feature to check for adverbs, though some of the words it deems vague are quite specific.
Another feature I use with ProWritingAid is checking for 'sticky sentences' - sentences containing too many 'glue' words. Most of these I either delete or rewrite. The program also flags things like repeated sentence starts (beginning 3 or more sentences with the same word, and spots other grammar issues.) It also keeps tabs on pronouns, especially sentences that start with pronouns. I found this helpful with the WIP, as it is first person, hence a lot of pronouns.
But, that said, ProWritingAid's approach sucks. Grammarly will give you the whole document with issues highlighted or underlined. Each separate section of ProWritingAid just pulls specific sentences and phrases from the whole, so the same sentence can get repeated like five or six times.
But overall, ProWritingAid is (barely) worth the cost, at least for me.