Friday, June 21, 2013

Getting friendly with Grammarly

I used Grammarly to grammar check this post because I did not want to be a victim of grammar gone haywire disease, a disease that has ensnared me from the last few days. 

From the past few weeks, I have noticed that I am doing too many things: writing my books, blogging, writing for newspapers, doing book reviews, and critiquing. With college reopening, I will restart teaching. I am making small mistakes or overlooking the errors that creep into my writing.

A few weeks back I realized that I had made an error in my feature for the newspaper after I emailed it. I immediately emailed the editor and pointed out my mistake. Fortunately for me, she had seen the mistake and corrected it. I realized then that it would not be a bad thing to have a tool where I can check my stories and articles for errors.

When I found out about Grammarly, I tried it for my picture book. There were quite a few errors in my story. Errors that two of my crit partners and I had overlooked. It pointed out my tendency to overuse the passive voice and write long sentences. It was like my English teacher in school gently pointing out the places in my assignments wherein I had slipped and fallen.

The reason I am concerned about grammar is because my creative writing sessions will start in a few days. Every time I think of the college students I shudder with dread as grammar is not their favourite and neither are they bothered about it. Commas and full stops are not in their writing arsenal.

I will be suggesting that they all try Grammarly atleast once. It can be used as a "second set of eyes" for the writing assignments. It is a great online proof reading tool which also highlights places where the writing can be improved.

Have any of you taken any grammar help for their manuscripts? Has anyone tried Grammarly? Don’t you think that writers should use such grammar improving tools? Please share your views. Any grammar goof-ups you want to share?





33 comments:

  1. What a helpful post, Rachna! Thanks for a good share. When I'm in a hurry I make those same mistakes. I'll check this out.

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  2. Thanks for sharing this, Rachna! I tried it and saw it required payment for the free-trial. Are you a paying subscriber? If so, I just want to check with you if it is worth the subscription amount. I’m considering signing up for it also.

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  3. Most certainly the tools to improve grammar are so welcome! Thanks for this nice post Rachna, to assist new writers like me!!

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  4. I've never used one. I'M pretty good at grammar. Nevertheless I find many mistakes in my writing. I must reread my stuff several times to catch them.

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  5. I received an email about trying Grammarly, but I haven't yet.

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  6. This is a blessing for me. Thanks for sharing. Can I share this post on Blogeshwari forum?

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  7. I haven't try it yet. I have a grammar tool on my macbook for pages, but it's not the best. My grammar has improved ten fold just by writing and reading. Also CP's point out the occasional MISTAKE... LOL. Always good to have an extra set of eyes at ALL times.

    Enjoy your weekend Rachna, and thanks for the info.

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  8. My grammar skills stink so I'll definitely be looking at Grammrly...thanks! :)

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  9. Being Spanish my native tongue, I think my grammar can always use polishing and cleaning. I will try Grammarly for sure! Thanks for the tip. :D

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  10. I haven't tried Grammarly. Thank goodness grammar isn't a problem for me, but it sure sounds like a great tool. Thanks for the info! :-)

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  11. Elizabeth, usually my grammar is good, but when I try to do too many things, it does take a beat.

    Gargi, try out their minimum subscription and see if it helps your writing.

    Rahul, I agree that grammar tools are always welcome.

    Richard, I too reread my stuff many times to catch the mistakes that may have crept in.

    Alex, I tried it and I found it pointed out my errors and also showed examples both with and without mistakes.

    Alka, please do share on the
    blogeshwari forum.

    Michael, I agree that its great to have an extra set of eyes where grammar is concerned.

    Mark, do take a look.

    Al, I too felt that my grammar could get better.

    Lexa, its a great tool.

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  12. Happens to all of us:) If you ever need a second pair of eyes, I can take a look for you. I am a Tech Writer after all and editing is a big part of my work:)

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  13. I like to use a online grammar progs to check for obvious mistakes (although not obvious enough for me to notice).

    mood

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  14. I've never used Grammarly, but I do use AutoCrit. It's a huge help.

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  15. Thanks for the tip, Rachna. I have leaned heavily on Word's grammar and spell check feature, but this sounds very helpful...

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  16. I'm good with typos and will take all the help I can get.

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  18. Of course now I'm totally paranoid about my grammar and spelling! Had to delete my last comment and start again, haha.

    I've never used Grammarly so I don't know what it's like. I did disable the spelling and grammar check on my word documents because it was maddening how it wouldn't shut up. To check that stuff in essays and college papers makes sense because the writing is more formal but most of the time creative writing is different. Creative writing breaks a lot of rules on purpose and it's difficult to focus on that if there's something constantly pointing out the non-existent problems.

    Jai

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  19. Grammar is not my favorite either! I think we all need help with it sometimes. We're always learning or practicing something, aren't we? Thanks for the reminder about Grammarly. I must go visit!

    Happy weekend!

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  20. Thanks for the suggestion. Their quarterly plan seems good. I know there maybe a few errors in my writing, but I never wanted to take the help of editors. Because, they change the tone of my articles! This one seems like a good alternative. I will try it for one quarter.

    Destination Infinity

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  21. No, I've never used it. I'm not familiar with this.

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  22. I got that email from Grammarly too. I haven't tried it yet, but I will for my next post. I've tried other grammar checkers. It will be interesting to see how it compares.

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  23. How funny!

    I used Grammarly when I was a beat reporter - a few years ago - and had forgotten about it:)

    It IS a great tool - especially for the newer writer - and I'm definitely going to use it for my WIP :)

    Thanks for reminding me:)

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  24. Yes we can all fall foul of grammar and spelling when we are tired and busy.

    Sounds like your students need to listen to 'Eats Shoots and Leaves' by Lynne Truss on audio or to read it as it is about grammar and is hilarious!
    http://www.amazon.com/Eats-Shoots-Leaves-Lynne-Truss/dp/0142800821/ref=tmm_abk_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1372103500&sr=8-1-fkmr0

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  25. Commas? I don't need no stinkin' commas. :) I've found similar sites that do this sort of thing. They can be rather enlightening at a minimum. I'll have to play around with this. Thanks!

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  26. Ya, I have used Grammarly for couple of time and it helps you a lot in constructing your sentences.
    It is heaps helpful :D

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  27. I haven't used Grammarly, but the program does intrigue me. :-)

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  28. This is my first time hearing about this programme. It sounds like a handy tool!
    Writer In Transit

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  29. I haven't used it yet, but I make sure to check mark all things under Word's spellcheck except for "first person" usage. I have a few software programs bookmarked to look at later.

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  30. I've never even heard of grammarly. I will have to try it out!

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  31. I have tried it. I felt either my writing is very bad or it doesn't really do the correcting properly. So I am kind of stuck, for sometimes I get 100 out of 100 and sometimes only 30 / 40/ 60 out of 100.

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  32. Did you get your gift certificate from Grammarly???

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  33. I am super curious about this. They keep offering up gift certificates, but I can't find anyone that claims they finally got one.

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