If you struggle with spelling, grammar, and punctuation, if proofreading your own writing is a challenge (even professional writers can miss mistakes in their work), there are tools to help you with this task and avoid not only spelling and grammar mistakes but also improve the construction of the text itself.
Grammarly is one such tool. A free online writing assistant (with more powerful paid versions) that detects grammatical and spelling errors in your documents as you type. It also checks for contextual spelling and word usage issues, which is especially useful for writers who have difficulty choosing the correct word from several possible options.
Currently, the only language supported by Grammarly is English. However, as many of us also need to write in this language, we think it is pertinent to suggest this tool to everyone.
How to use Grammarly
There are many ways to use Grammarly. You can open a document and start typing. You can copy and paste the text into an online editor. After writing your document, you can review it using one of its editing modes. Grammarly Premium users can also set up automatic corrections, track their progress over time, and access even more advanced features. Commonly misspelled words and misspellings are flagged, so you can correct them as you go. Grammarly also displays suggestions for contextual spelling and word choice, which is helpful if you’re not sure which option is best in a given situation.
You can also use plagiarism checking to make sure your work isn’t plagiarizing others!
Install the extension
The Grammarly extension can be installed on your Internet browser. Once installed, the extension automatically checks text for grammatical and spelling errors as you type. Works in any text field, including a document, email, social media comment, and more. The extension also notifies you when a word is commonly misspelled, if you use a word too often if there are any contextual spelling issues, and if you use excessive punctuation. To access these features, click the icon corresponding to the extension in the top right corner of your browser.
In addition to the browser extension, it is also possible to integrate Grammarly with the most common text editing programs.
Writing Tools
Grammarly’s writing tools let you know if the content of your text seems too general, if it uses words that are too fancy, or if it’s using too many words. You can also perform a readability analysis to determine the readability level of your text. Grammarly Premium offers additional writing tools, like a vocabulary improvement feature. These tools are useful when we want to improve our writing skills but don’t know how to do it.
Advanced Features
Grammarly’s advanced features let you know if you’re using passive language, if your sentences are too long or short, or if there are any words you overuse. You can also check your grammar for specific errors, such as sentence fragments, misplaced modifiers, and comma errors. Advanced features also let you know if you should choose a different word. For example, if you use “very” too often, Grammarly will tell you that it’s too strong a word choice.
Conclusion
Grammarly is one of the most used online text editing and proofreading services. It is used by people all over the world to get rid of those pesky spelling and grammar mistakes. By using Grammarly, you will be able to gain many benefits such as increased readership, increased confidence in writing, and higher grades. The free version has many features worth using, but you will have to pay a premium subscription if you want to use the plagiarism scanner and more advanced features. However, the prices are not that high, especially if you intend to use it for professional tasks.
Grammarly doesn’t always capture everything in the best way for your context, so you’ll always have to proofread your text carefully, but overall, Grammarly is a great writing tool and a great help. For now, its big “defect” is that it can only help us if we write in English 🙁 We hope that, in the future, other languages will be supported as well.