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Back in October, I was honored by one of many favorite authors with her go-ahead to collaborate with her on continuing one of her unfinished stories
here on BCTS. Well, I think it has been going pretty well, and my inspiration author seems to like it. Well, the story is mostly done. Now, it's time for the cannon-ball polishing.
I have always used grammar checkers very sparingly when writing fiction. First of all, NOBODY talks like a grammar checker! Not even English Teachers! Grammar checkers HATE common vernacular and shortcuts. They REALLY hate 'really', 'very', 'evidently', 'apparently' and just about every other word people use in speaking to give emphasis to something. Finally, even though Grammarly admits that when listing things in a sentence, placing a comma before the conjunction (and, or, ) or not placing a comma there are both equally correct, so what does it do? It dings you either way. I can't find a way to tell the basic version to just let it go! Arrgh.
What Grammar checkers are good for is what I call my 'little tiggerisms'. Missing articles. Split infinitives. Incorrect verb conjugation. Added and unnecessary commas. Homophones and Homonyms. Auto-IN-correct zaps by my word processor. (I sure didn't do some of those! It CAN'T be the Tigger's fault!)
My problem with most of the above is that when I try to proofread my own stuff, I 'read' what I THINK I wrote, even if that is not what is written there. Even when I let the work sit for a week or so. Grammarly Basic (free) is pretty good at identifying such things.
My question is about Grammarly Premium which starts at 30 dollars a month. Basically, on every file I've done with the Basic, after I've fixed everything they caught, there's this note telling me that if I used premium, there were 2 - 3 times as many other issue they could tell me about to make my writing more better and more readable.
Anyone out there USE or have used Premium got some words of wisdom on the subject? Inquiring tiggers wanna know!
thanks all!
Warm Furry Hugs
Tigger
Comments
Grammar checkers and Grammarly in particular
I use Grammarly on almost everything I write, and I have the premium version.
I accept that I am going to end up ignoring half or more of its suggestions. Part of that is deliberate errors, like transcribin' dialog, or people's names that are not in its dictionary. You can add those to the dictionary if you like.
But part of it is, to me, just suggestions that I choose to ignore. Like certain comma usages I find intrusive. I have a friend who beta reads most of what I write and his suggestions I treat in the same way. "Perfect" grammar does not exist.
The premium version has more options for tuning how it treats text. You can say that your aim is casual personal essay and it will treat the text completely differently from writing identified as formal business letter.
Its a tool. You have to use it appropriately and you have to put in effort to get its maximum utility out. Some of that effort lies in knowing when to leave in that really, really necessary adverb and when to accept Grammarly's suggestion that maybe this time you don't need it. Or should use a diferent method of emPHAsis.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Gram Prem
I have it and have used t for many years. It can't make a silk purse out of my sow's ears but it does make my emails readable.
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
I use the free version
$30/month is a big commitment and not one that I'm prepared to take.
I find the free version used with caution is ok. After a while, you get used to its foibles and can ignore them.
The flagging of adverbs such as clearly, really etc is IMHO, a good thing. In many cases, you simply ignore them. In other cases, you can re-write the sentence and avoid using them.
There are a number of words that it is generally recommended to avoid in your writing. My list is:-
Suddenly – except in dialogue and when it is really sudden. Does it make sense without it.
Then – Does it flow without it in the sentence.
Very/really – tagging it onto a weak descriptor does not add anything.
Is/Was – removing it can force you to make the scene have more action
Started – do not use unless something actually starts
Just – keep if it is a limiter
Somewhat/slightly -
Somehow - A mark of lazy writing – keep when a character is missing information
Seem -
Definitely – Almost always useless.
My only regret is that you can't write your own rules for Grammarly.
But as the saying goes... Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. that applies to good text.
Grammarly, like all tools, is only as good as the person using them.
Samantha
Reading aloud ftw
I find that when I arrive at what I believe is the "final version" of a story, that reading it aloud brings various defects to light.
Also, reading it a month after you've posted it is pretty effective.
Kaleigh Way
re: Read Alound
I use the MS Word Review/Read Aloud. I catch more issue that way, than doing it myself.
Erin said it well
"Perfect grammar doesn't exist." Especially in dialog.
I make do with MS Word's "Spelling & Grammar" feature. And then if I'm really concerned about it I make an appeal to the good folks here for a beta reader to look for redundancy and misnaming a character and readability. Like you, I find it difficult to thoroughly proof my own work. As you said, I know what I intended to write.
When using grammar checking, my rule of thumb is, "If it's in quotes, disregard what ever it has to say except for spelling or homonyms and homophones ." Everywhere else, I try to make what they say work, but if I'm at a loss as to make it read well then I don't. I know that my spoken English is full of contractions and colloquialisms. Most of my characters are the same. However, my written English has always been better. Probably because I can't write as fast as I speak and have more time to spend figuring out how to say it.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt