Grammarly? Good or Bad

Discussion in 'Writing Software and Hardware' started by Sark1986, Apr 24, 2019.

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  1. Wreybies

    Wreybies Thrice Retired Supporter Contributor

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    Ditto. Good for catching the silly flubs that have a way of being invisible. The form that should be from, the one that should on, the completely missing preposition, etc. These errors are sourced from fat sausage fingers and a mind that moves more quickly than my phalanges. As for the rest, it can shut its gob. My sense of syntax and grammar is quite literally certified by the FCICE.
     
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  2. MWB

    MWB Active Member Contest Winner 2023

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    I only use it as a backstop to Word's functionality...I tend to self-edit as I go though so I'm only using it to find the 'invisible errors' I can't see on screen.
     
  3. df4205

    df4205 New Member

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    @Wrey : And here I thought I was the only one turning form into from (and vice versa).
    I just started using the free version and what everyone else has said seems pretty much true. It does seem to have a huge problem with quotation marks. I constantly get the warning "You did not end this sentence" because the period was inside the quotes. As someone else pointed out, it doesn't like colloquialisms and informal speech (but I've not found any programs or sites that do. My character is not a robot! People don't talk like English Majors in real life!") But, like others have said, it's useful for catching silly flubs. Sometimes I get called away form writing and when I come back I'll double up the last word I left off with, without noticing it. "She went to the market market to get some bread." One thing I do appreciate is the fact that it lets you add to its dictionary. This comes in super handy if, like me, you write High Fantasy. Other grammar/punctuation/spell checkers really freak out with all those made-up names, lol. At least on that front it seems fairly intuitive about auto-applying exceptions for the possessives as well. So, in WordPad/WPS/Libre if you had a character named "Salgoth" for example, even when you tell it to "ignore all" you still get hung up on "Salgoth's house" just because it wasn't the "EXACT" word you told it to ignore. But beyond that, take the same lesson I did after I edited my first book using various grammar/punctuation/spell checkers and take its suggestions with a grain of salt.
     
  4. jollyoldchap

    jollyoldchap Banned

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    Grammarly doesn't know how to analyze anything that's supposed to be written artfully, because currently there are no algorithms sufficient for analyzing prose, the developers depending on things like neural nets, even these less than adequate for many tasks our human brains can do.

    Actually, I'm not sure if Grammarly uses neural nets or not, but the software is not very good for what it claims to be.
     
    Last edited: Jul 9, 2020
  5. BearOfTheNorth

    BearOfTheNorth Member

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    I use the free version and I'm pretty happy with it, it does point out simple, silly mistakes that you might have missed but I will always fine comb my writing after using it to see if I can improve on anything or spot any other mistakes. I'm a new writer so I'm not confident in my own proof-reading skills yet.
     
  6. LadySilence

    LadySilence Member

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    I am using the free version.
    It's not bad, for small careless mistakes it's perfect.
    I was thinking of buying the Premium version.
     
  7. More

    More Active Member

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    I have used it , and my atrocious writing skills need support. Recently , I have become convinced it is mistake and I should work harder to improve my own skill rather than use it . It is not like the old arguments about schools using calculators . Adding numbers, in the basic sense, is not a creative process . The answer to adding numbers together is same , regardless of how you get there . It is true, in the basic way , writing software can be a valuable editing tool . But I also believe it can discourage and weaken the writers motivation of self improvement. If your a good and skilful writer , it is possibly useful . If you a poor writer and lacking some basic skills , like me . It is debilitating
     

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