Is Grammarly helpful or annoying to you?

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   Athena Barroga Perezposted 3 years ago

   Hello! I am new to HubPages, and I want to know more authors here. I want to learn more about what can help or hurt different authors.
   
   So, grammar! I think I can call myself fluent in English, but I still have a lot of hiccups when I type, especially when I'm in a rush. That's why I often rely on a grammar and spelling checker.
   
   I have been using Grammarly for a long time. At one part, it is a lifesaver! Without it, my articles and stories would probably be covered in red ink.
   
   But at the same time, Grammarly can be so annoying. Its corrections can sometimes be... questionable. And since I am using a free version, that yellow button is getting so irritating. Yeah yeah, Grammarly, I know my sentence is wordy. But if I cut my sentence into pieces, it wouldn't make sense!
   
   So, what do you think about Grammarly? Do you love or loathe it? And if you haven't tried it out, are you interested in it, or will you completely avoid it?

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      Kyler J Falkposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      I've found that reading more than you write is a better tool for improving grammar than any software you could find, especially Grammarly. Grammarly seemed overly-complicated, and it often made suggestions that made absolutely no sense.
      
      Speaking to seasoned authors also helps, like the time I spoke to James Edwin Gunn; he gave me an invaluable bit of advice that I still have yet to fully grasp and utilize:
      
      "The first step to writing the perfect story is writing the perfect sentence."
      
      I avoid Grammarly and instead opt to read articles from writing authorities.

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      Miebakagh57posted 3 years agoin reply to this

      It can be useful. And it can be a nonsense at the same time.                                        The very first time I try the tool I at once uninstall it. Because it contradict basic sentenses, I expressed in standard British English.                                              That said, I don't know HubPages is depedent on American English back then. So I was advice to try it again. And I found it helpful.                                          Nevertheless, I'm not taking Grammarly for grant. I've wrote articler that are feature or move to niche sites without passing through Grammarly.

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         Athena Barroga Perezposted 3 years agoin reply to this

         I guess that is one downside of Grammarly. It only recognizes American English. But I'm pretty sure there might be other grammar checking software that focuses on British English. But I guess you really need to search for that specifically.
         
         I pretty much use Grammarly for my job and formal articles. But I go freeform when I write my fiction stories. Grammarly is so adamant about my mistakes that it's actually making my Google Docs to lag!

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            Miebakagh57posted 3 years agoin reply to this

            I'm completely in agreement with you. Yes, other grammar tools exists online. Google "online grammar checker' and pronto, you're good to go.

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   bhattucposted 3 years ago

   I am using it. I am quite happy with that so far

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      Athena Barroga Perezposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      That's nice to hear! I'm glad you are having a good time with Grammarly

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   davrowpotposted 3 years ago

   It seems that it somehow doesn't set the right tone of constructed words and sentences. It can also be a little pain because of the corrections the software tries to tell you, even if you (instinctively) know that these corrections aren't even corrections at all. Either way, it's still a fairly useful application to use. Other than Grammarly, of course, people here also uses other editing softwares/applications such as ProwritingAid.

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      Athena Barroga Perezposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      Very true. I get a lot of flags for correction, especially for wordy sentences and complex sentence punctuation. It's like, maybe in the eyes of Grammarly it's wrong, but I'm darn sure that normal people will just read it as it is.
      
      I am thinking of branching out to different grammar checking software. ProwritingAid sounds interesting.

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   psycheskinnerposted 3 years ago

   I use the full version so I don't know how different that is.  But I have found I can set the document type and turn off rules I don't want to follow.  That generally makes the number of unhelpful tags pretty minimal.

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      Athena Barroga Perezposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      That sounds great. I cannot afford premium as of right now so all of the premium corrections are visible. There is one thing that can be turned off though from what I know, even in the free version. And that's correction for anything inside a quote.

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   viryaboposted 3 years ago

   I find that I’m quite happy with Grammarly. Yes, it does want me to do certain things like create shorter sentences and spell certain words the American way. But I work around such.
   Having said that, I now run my writings through it. All the time.

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      Miebakagh57posted 3 years agoin reply to this

      Great! Great Grammarly!                                        Like as I've said beforehand, I've publish certain articles without checking it with Grammarly. That's how I pass my Boot Test at the beginning.                                   More over, I've written two 2800 worded articles that are featured on HubPages and one moved a niche site.                                       However, certain online software tools, like dictionaries or thesaurus of synonyms and antonyms have standard English language options-America, British, Australia, and Canada. I can't now recall if grammarly has such options.                                      Seriously, grammarly is a grand grammar checking tool online. I hope to re-install it again, along with ProWritingAid.

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      Athena Barroga Perezposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      Same here. One thing that I appreciate is that it works on almost all websites I'm own. But then again, that is a little risky to my privacy... That in of itself is another can of worms.

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   quotationsposted 3 years ago

   I paid for it a while back. It was somewhat useful in catching obvious mistakes but useless in suggesting better re-writes, contrary to what they suggest in their ads. Their suggested alternative sentences were not easier to comprehend; in fact they were gibberish most of the time. Microsoft Word has a grammar and spell checker which does just as good a job and is included with the price of the software. I don't think it does anything useful. In my opinion they rely more on marketing than results to sell their product.

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      Athena Barroga Perezposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      Oh yes! I remember when their ads were everywhere and how they always say you will be a better writer when you use their program.
      
      I think the main issue with Grammarly's correction is that a computer is looking at it, not a human. A computer can only follow pre-taught rules. Grammarly doesn't understand nuances in grammar.

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   Miebakagh57posted 3 years ago

   All online writing softwares are programmed by human beings. They're not intelligent and had no thinking ability, and so just do what is told and notgng else.                                        I think an AI would do much better.                                              That said, it only seems to realize that a natural or common sense reading of a sentense/ce is what matters much.                                       However, those online writing softwares at times seems outdated and are liable to revising. None of the tool can ever reach a state of perfect grammar. English grammar is natural.

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