Assistance with grammar and changing the default language for your personal computer with a Windows operating system.

Grammar

I'm not sure how widespread this information is, but I guess it couldn't hurt regardless. By the way, this has only been used on Office XP:

Tools.
Options.
Spelling & Grammar (Tab).
Grammar & Style (Under 'Writing Style').

This will allow you check for things like: cliches, colloquialisms, jargon, contractions, fragments, gender-specific words, hyphenated/compound words, misused words, numbers, passive sentences, possessives and plurals (there was a thread about this, Gannon), punctuation, relative clauses, sentence length/structure/beginnings, successive nouns/prepositional phrases, unclear phrasing, verb phrases, wordiness, words in split infinitive

Also, in the Spelling & Grammar tab, there is a way to check readability statistics. The stats are based on two methods. If you would like more information on both of them, visit:

Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flesch-Kincaid_Readability_Test)


Language (for our UK'ers)

This will set your system to your selected language, allowing you to never have to reset the language in Word unless you're using something other than what was selected.

Assuming you have XP (though Vista should be similar):

Start.
Control Panel.
Date, Time, Language, and Regional Options.
Regional and Language Options.
English (UK).


International Accent Marks and Diacriticals

This site gives you the character codes to write accented letters, et çetërâ: Starr (http://www.starr.net/is/type/altnum.htm)


Give me props! Haha...

To be honest adamant, I already knew most of this- though I learnt largely through trial and error. So it would be useful to people starting out. Well done. I would also like to point out that Word Spelling and Grammar hates me- it keeps insisting on changing the default language to American English. If you could tell me how to sort that then I would be very grateful :p

Actually, that link regarding the Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test was very interesting. I've always wondered what it was...

lol, Banzia go to "tools" then "langauage" then "set language" then scroll through and find which one you want.

and yeah, i know about most of the things you can do on Microsoft Word, like Banzai said, it is a case of sitting bored for an hour flicking through all of the menus and finding all the cool little tricks it can do. :p
Heather

Though I'm not 100% sure this would work, I would recommend changing the 'regional language' in the Windows settings.

Assuming you have XP:

Start.
Control Panel.
Date, Time, Language, and Regional Options.
Regional and Language Options.
English (UK).

lol, Banzia go to "tools" then "langauage" then "set language" then scroll through and find which one you want.

Tried that already. For some reason, as soon as I start writing anything it reverts back to American (AKA wrong :p) English.

Oh, and I found this, which amused me:

http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/George_Forman/images/HiddenOptions.gif

Eh... I killed that stupid paper clip long ago. Though I once saw a little cartoon depicting it as asking to help a writer on his ransom letter.

Writing ransom letters is the most lucritive part of the writing industry...

So that's how Bill Gates made all that money? Go through Windows, kidnap people, make a fortune (annoying them severely in the process, yet simultaneously claiming how necessary it is to do so). It would be a get-rich-quick scheme if only it didn't work so well.

Go through Windows, kidnap people, make a fortune (annoying them severely in the process, yet simultaneously claiming how necessary it is to do so).

And then, just because kidnap isn't enough, release a bug-riddled OS!

i love the little help thingy. although i neva use it i like to set it as the dog or cat and watch it do lots of funny things. :p i am easily ammused. and Banzia, have you selected your language and then clicked "default", as that should make it the default language. i have a simliar problem actually, i want mine to be in French, but i does not have a spell check so i do not know whether what i am typing is correct or not, lol.
Heather

I can guarentee it's more correct than it would be if I was writing it. I'm useless at french. Obwohl, ich kann ziemlich gut Deutsch sprechen.

Heather, go to the original post, I've included a way to change the system's default language. However, you seem only want to write in French at certain times. Therefore I would suggest downloading the languages from either the Windows CD or the Microsoft website. From there, you would need to highlight whatever should be checked by the French dictionary.

Obwohl, ich kann ziemlich gut Deutsch sprechen. German??
Heather, go to the original post, I've included a way to change the system's default language. However, you seem only want to write in French at certain times. Therefore I would suggest downloading the languages from either the Windows CD or the Microsoft website. From there, you would need to highlight whatever should be checked by the French dictionary. thanks hun, i'll try that :)

German??

Ja, Deutsch. Ich habe seit sechs Jarhre Deutche gelernt, und dieses ist alles ich kann sagen.

When I'm doing German homework in Word, I just turn spellchecker off. If I make any effort to switch it to German, it just gets supremely confused with the grammar.

You know what I sincerely hate about America? The fact that so much of Europe can speak multiple languages; yet we only speak one, despite proclaiming ourselves as a 'melting pot'.

I want to be able to yell at people in German on the highway. Though they probably have no words for bad drivers in Deutschland due to the fact that they can actually commandeer a vehicle.

*pout*


"Obwohl, ich kann ziemlich gut Deutsch sprechen."

And while that may be true Banzai, I can use a German-English dictionary equally as well.

"Obwohl, ich kann ziemlich gut Deutsch sprechen."

And while that may be true Banzai, I can use a German-English dictionary equally as well.


Ah, touche!

Is it not mandatory to learn a language at school in the US?

I think it's recommended at most currently. And the conservative bunch has been pushing for the US to only have Ënglî§h for everything.

I think that's probably counter-productive really. It would only lead to increasing isolation. In Britain it is (I think) a legal requirement that secondary school pupils have to learn a foreign language. Most commonly French, German or Spanish, but I have seen Italian, Mandarin and Arabic.

Yes it would be. But then again, when those are they same people on a worldwide conquest, I guess it doesn't much matter.

For some reason I like using a faux-British accent and some of their grammar. Yep, I'm weird. And that really had nothing to do with anything.

You've a fuzzy head. First time I've seen your picture, haha.

Wow. We really have run out of things to say, haven't we?

Hmm... time to refuel, perhaps? I'm going to hit the hay, gotta wake up for yard work tomorrow. See the world when I wake up in the morning, stars are asleep and the sun is snoring, but all's well if it's not pouring.

Actually, Fresno is in somewhat of a drought, so it'd be best if we did have some rain.

Heh. You can have some of ours. Wimbledon has been practically rained off, this year.

God, wimblodon is sooo boring. my mam and dad sit with it on for hours and think it is actually interesting. it proper grinds on me, lol. and the weather has been appauling, seriously terrible. i hate the rain :(
Heather

I don't find it interesting either, to be honest Heather. Apart from the old clips with John McEnroe :p Those are funny.

lol, the ones that they were showing yesturday when it was raining or you on about??

They've shown them a few times. Just generally, when he threw strops, was hillarious.

haha, i know. it was the only interesting bit mind. my dad turns Friends off to watch bloody Tennis, lol.

Friends > Tennis.

Even with John McEnroe.

i know, i love friends but my dad hates it!! :O shocking or what, lol.

Yeah, well my dad spends whole days watching cricket, which is even worse really.

lol, my dad isn't normally a sports person, he just hates Friends, lol

How can you hate friends?!

i know, it's appauling isn't it!!

I'm thinking there might be something wrong with him...

tell me about it. he comes home form work and says "no Friends, no Scrubs and no Eight Simple Rules!" they are all of my fanourite programmes :'( and he doesn't like Emmerdale or Corination Street, although when it is on he sits and constanlty asks who is who, lol.

I don't like Emmerdale or Corination Street, but Friends, Scrubs and Eight Simple Rules are great :D

*looks to see the original topic of the thread*

There was an original topic?

yea, ermm, Microsoft?? i think. yea, Microsoft rules!! :p

What writing style should I use? Formal, Standard, what?

What exactly do you mean by that?

What exactly do you mean by that?

When you go to Tools>Options>Spelling & Grammar it says "Writing Style:" near the bottom right. Which one is best to have it as? Casual, Standard, Formal, or Technical?

Well, I imagine you must have a version later than my own (Word XP). If you're planning on writing a story with the program, I would probably suggest Standard. Choosing casual writing would probably have the spelling and grammar checker be a lot more lax when going over your documents. Formal writing is probably best for when writing essays.

An explanation of Technical Writing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_writing)

However, as I don't actually have access to the options myself, you should play with them and read up on Microsoft's definitions to see which best suits your needs.

I wouldn't put a lot of faith into Word's grammar checking in any case. Orobably the best choice is to experiment with the levels so the number of places it flags is manageable for you, and evealuate each one for appropriateness before changing it. From what I've seen, it gets confused a lot of the time.

Mine hasn't steered me wrong; even taught me about passive sentences. Of course it's not perfect (designed by Micro$oft after all), but it can be a source of help in the editing department.