Grammarly app

[Aerlys]

Hey, I just stumbled upon this app from Grammarly. It's a grammar checking app. There are both a free version and a premium version.

www.grammarly.com/

Wonder if anyone here has tried it? Maybe it would give poor Evie a break!

[Evie]

Grammarly is fine if you already know enough about grammar and mechanics to know when it is steering you right and when it's not. Unfortunately no grammar checker is perfect (though anything would be better than the sad excuse for a grammar checker in MS Word, I think!), so for best results I would only use it to catch the worst errors in a first draft, then send it off to a human beta-reader with good writing skills to correct its corrections. 

Also, IIRC Grammarly has a charge for use (although maybe it has a free version as well?), so it may or may not be worth paying whatever they're asking per month, depending on how much you write and how much help your writing needs. Everyone's mileage will vary on that question, of course.

[revanne]

There is also a degree of difference between British and American Grammar which our Mistress of commas takes account of - the grammar check on MS Word even if it is in English(UK) does not and is frankly unuseable.

I might give Grammarly a go though - if I ever get time to do more than scrawl a few ideas down.

[Elkhound]

This wasn't grammar so much as spelling, but for the longest time my spellchecker when I was typing Harry Potter related items kept trying to change "Slytherin" to "Lutheran."

Which is particularly funny when you remember that J. K. Rowling is a Presbyterian.

[Evie]

LOL, Elkhound!   

Here's some pros and cons of using Grammarly for proofreading one's work:
http://www.writing-skills.com/review-grammarly-app/

My takeaway is that it might be useful for a first pass, but that it's definitely no substitute for having a human look over the writing to make sure errors don't end up in the final version.  Looks like it's great at catching some errors, but tends to miss some and even adds in a few.
Also check http://grammarist.com/articles/grammarly-review/ for errors that Grammarly missed but which it definitely shouldn't have.

[Almira]

Grammarly isn't a bad app but there are better ones out there. Prowritingaid is my favorite. It checks for grammar mistakes, sticky wording, repetitive phrases and even cliches. Plus, Prowritingaid is free. It even has a sample of the premium version!
Try it at: https://prowritingaid.com/

[Evie]

Thanks for the tip, and welcome to the board! Glad you were able to make it on here.