Want to
Know More?
Bishop, T. (2005, March 28). A Word to the unwise—program’s grammar check isn’t so smart. Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved from
business/217802_grammar28.asp
Kies, D. (2008). Evaluating grammar checkers. Retrieved from The HyperTextBooks Web site:
hypertextbooks/grammar/
gramchek.htm
Krishnamurthy, S. (n.d.). A demonstration of the futility of using Microsoft Word’s spelling and grammar check. Retrieved from
Alternatives
to Grammar Check
Word processors can help you find errors:
Aragoni, L. (2008). Writing mechanics go high tech. Retrieved from You Can Teach Writing Web site:
Grammar Rules
Darling, C. (2004). Guide to grammar and writing. Retrieved from
Simmons, R. L. (2009). Grammar bytes. Retrieved from
/ How Far Can You Trust Word’s Grammar Checker?
Hint: Computers can and do make mistakes
How far can you trust your grammar checker? Not very far, according to Sandeep Krishnamurthy.
The marketing professor was frustrated by errors in his students’ papers. “You need to use spellcheck and grammar check,” he said. “We did,” they replied.
Dr. Krishnamurthy investigated. He created muddled paragraphs and ran them through the grammar checker in Word 2003. Nothing was flagged in this example:
Marketing are bad for brand big and small. You Know What I am Saying? It is no wondering that advertisings are bad for company in America, Chicago and Germany. Updating of brand image is bad for processes in one company and many companies.
Dr. Krishnamurthy posted the demo paragraphs on his Web site so users could test them with their own software.
Human Judgment Is Required“I never realized how bad this feature really was,” he concluded.
Like his students, you may think that grammar check is always right. Actually, language is extremely complex. If subjects and verbs were always right next to each other, grammar checkers would do a much better job of flagging problems like a plural subject with a singular verb (They has arrived.)In this sentence, the subject and verb are not next to each other: / Dr. Krishnamurthy, who finds that grammar checkers miss many errors, is on the faculty at the University of Washington.
Word will try to match the verb is with the closest noun: errors. One is singular, the other plural, so Word will helpfully suggest replacing is with are. The nonsensical result: Dr. Krishnamurthy are on the faculty.
Use Find and Replace InsteadLinda Aragoni suggests using Find and Replace instead of grammar check. For example, a student who has trouble with apostrophes might replace every apostrophe with ~. She can then find each ~ and decide whether an apostrophe is needed and where it goes.
“By concentrating on just one of their personal writing mechanics problems at a time, students can quickly eliminate errors they habitually make,” says Aragoni. Checking for just three errors can greatly improve correctness.Know the Rules You’re Checking
To use grammar check effectively, you have to do two things:• customize the settings
• know when to override the software.
Too often, people change something that’s correct just to make the little green squiggle go away. If you don’t know why grammar check has flagged something, review the rule before you change it. Grammar Byes (http;//chompchomp.com) has quick, clear explanations of basic rules. Also, you can set your software to check only what you find useful. (See online Help for how to customize grammar check settings.)###
This article may be freely distributed as long as credit is given to Cecelia Munzenmaier, a partner in writing-resources.us, which provides consulting services on Plain Talk and other business writing needs.
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