RE: Does anyone use grammar programs for their work?

#3
'Nerodith' pid='825361' dateline='1497915172' Wrote: I never thought of using a grammar program... My best correctors are my readers xD However, it's not a bad idea. Are those programs trustable ?

I don't use it as a final word on anything. Sometimes it adds an article because it doesn't get what I'm trying to do but I think it definitely catches certain simple errors of omission which allows your readers to find the more subtle problems and I like the second opinion on comma usage that it gives me. I didn't realize how often I dropped an article or doubled up on an article until I got it. I wish I could use it with Scrivener but the free program only works with my browser.


For example, at one point I had a character quote from the Bible. Grammarly really wanted me to add articles to certain words that would have erased the Biblical tone of the quote.
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RE: Does anyone use grammar programs for their work?

#6
prowritingaid and grammarly are the best options, but i'd recommend making sure to learn how to spot these mistakes on your own because neither of them are worth the time. Also, they don't fix stylistic errors and are very hard on some 'unwritten' rules of writing, that you don't really need to care about all that much.
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RE: Does anyone use grammar programs for their work?

#7
'WhoCares' pid='825476' dateline='1498135100' Wrote: prowritingaid and grammarly are the best options, but i'd recommend making sure to learn how to spot these mistakes on your own because neither of them are worth the time. Also, they don't fix stylistic errors and are very hard on some 'unwritten' rules of writing, that you don't really need to care about all that much.

That's actually a really good point. Editing is a skill and when you're learning to write, you should also make sure your editing abilities improve as well. Relying on any program too much can make you a lazy editor, which will hurt you in the future.
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RE: Does anyone use grammar programs for their work?

#8
'FullxTilt' pid='825411' dateline='1498007965' Wrote: Sometimes I run my chapters through ProWritingAid. I definitely don't change everything it tells me to, but sometimes it does help me notice mistakes I would have otherwise missed.

Ooooooh! I see that prowritingaid works with scrivener? *drools*

I'm definitely looking into improving my grammar skills. I downloaded a copy of Strunk and White's Elements of Style. It's a dry 50 pages to get through, but necessary.
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RE: Does anyone use grammar programs for their work?

#9
Honestly, I just use Word. You can adjust the settings to auto-correct misspelled words to a point, (a letter or two out of place usually) if it can't figure out what word you were looking for it will offer suggestions when you right click the underlined word (just like here when you misspell something, the little red squiggly line underneath it) It will also offer tips on improving other things as well, like suggesting word swaps to make your writing more concise. I recommend not using all of those suggestions, as sometimes to add flair and elegance to your writing you don't want to be concise.

The best way to practice is to turn the auto correct stuff off though, and train yourself to type using proper grammar and punctuation, using the tools whatever program you end up using has to fix mistakes you make as you go. The biggest problems I've had so far are actually just the occasional missed plural on a word in a sentence and things along those lines. Admittedly, I have always been a bookworm, and immersing yourself in the written word from a very young age offers a distinct advantage over those who haven't or those who are non-native speakers.
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RE: Does anyone use grammar programs for their work?

#10
To be honest, I just use MS. Word grammar checker only because I can tell it what to look at and really, why bother with using anything else because grammar checkers aren't intelligent enough to be a reliable tool. They will help highlight obvious errors and cater to formal writing a lot better.

About the only grammar checker I can recommend is ProWritingAid. However, I don't personally use it currently because again, it's still a grammar check and it isn't intelligent enough.

And the reason why I keep repeating that fact because they aren't. As a dyslexic, you learn very quickly about what works, what's mediocre, and what's a waste of time in terms of grammar checkers. I'm a bit aware of some of my more common mistakes that most if not all grammar checker fail flag, or even give me the actual reason my sentence get squigglefied. Sometimes they just give up. My favorite is when I misspell a noun for another noun. Because of the very strict rule sets a grammar checker is programed for, it will gloss over the mistake because the sentence is "grammatically correct" and because the misspelled word is an actual word, a spell checker won't catch it either. That's quite the blind spot. Not to mention each grammar checker seem to have different strength and weakness. One might pick up on this error while missing something another one pick up on. Basically, they aren't made equal.

The only reliable way I can check my work is a text-to-speech program. This is a much better option or you read your work aloud for those who don't stutter when they read. I'm currently using TextAloud.

RE: Does anyone use grammar programs for their work?

#11
MS Word is a good option for checking, but as has been said, it can be quirky.

At the risk of going slightly off-topic, I have noticed that most stories on RRL, even those that are being edited or proofread, are riddled with mistaken word choices. Things like 'boarder' and 'border,' as an example. Both are correctly spelled, and fit grammatically into a sentence in much the same way. The two words have entirely different meanings, though. Neither spell check or grammar check will spot it.

Given that most of the writers on RRL are not native speakers of English, it is very understandable that mistakes like that happen, but it is something to watch for when proofing text.

RE: Does anyone use grammar programs for their work?

#12
I used to, but the more advanced ones just make everything into a chore. I'd recommend using them on the first chapter and synopsis, but that's as far as I'd go. Otherwise, you'll lose interest in writing. Just the basic spell checker is fine otherwise. Or maybe Grammarly type of program if you wanna spend money.

It's much more important to get some understanding of the rules of writing and how to apply them rather than improve grammar that 90% of people don't even notice(Assuming that your normal grammar is okay). Maybe google the proper use of commas, semicolons and em-dashes first. Those can be a little useful.

RE: Does anyone use grammar programs for their work?

#13
Your writing a story not an essay, fuck grammar!

I'm half-joking there but seriously you can bend a lot more rules when you're writing "creative fiction". So long as what you're writing isn't so broken grammatically as to be incomprehensible you're fine. Any inconsistencies with proper dictionary English can be chalked up to your writing style. Unless you're specifically looking to improve your ability to write grammatically correctly I wouldn't stress too much about it. A lot of my favorite authors throw made up words and weird grammar rules into their stories, so long as you're consistent your readers will get it.
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