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March 7, 2013

Grammarly – Never Make the Same Mistake Twice

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Grammarly is a tool that everyone could use. The automatic proofreading application scans text and searches for more than 250 different types of common grammatical mistakes. Grammarly also catches spelling and word choice errors, and notifies users immediately when instances of plagiarism have been detected.

Improve your chances of an A grade on your next assignment by copy/pasting the text of any essay or research paper into Grammarly. In seconds, Grammarly will proofread your text for spelling, grammar, punctuation, style of word choice, and plagiarism. It will then tell you how many “critical writing issues” have been detected, and prompt you to sign up for a paid account (or a seven-day trial) to find out what those writing issues are. Unlike the spell checkers in most word processing programs, Grammarly is programmed to spot commonly confused words like affect and effect or lose and loose, and suggests replacements that may improve the readability of submitted text. Grammarly also checks against more than 8 billion documents for instances of plagiarism, and suggests possible citations in certain instances.

Grammarly is just as useful for students and professors as it is for medical writers, English learners, authors, and job applicants putting together resumes and cover letters. The web-application automatically adapts its recommendations based on the writing genre and pinpoints areas for improvement. Grammarly can function as a web-based app, or it can be integrated with Microsoft Office Suite programs like Word and Outlook.

Practical Uses:

  • Find out if you’ve misspelled any words in an essay you’re writing
  • Get suggestions for possible citations on a paper you’re submitting
  • Improve the readability of your essay by making a few quick changes
  • Check a student’s research paper for instances of plagiarism

Insider Tips:

  • Grammarly integrates with Microsoft Office Suite programs
  • Every paper gets a score that falls somewhere from 1 to 100
  • Grammarly checks text against more than 250 grammar rules
  • Publishers can generate revenue by becoming Grammarly affiliates

What we liked:

  • People can run their text through Grammarly before signing up for an account
  • Grammarly automatically checks for commonly confused words
  • Job seekers can run their resumes and cover letters through Grammarly
  • Professors can check their students’ papers for plagiarism

What we didn’t like:

  • Grammarly may be cost prohibitive for people who only use the app occasionally

Alternatives:

Company Info:

  • Launched: 2009
  • Privately Held
  • Headquarters: San Francisco, California
  • Founded by: Alex Shevchenko and Max Lytvyn
  • Web site: http://www.grammarly.com

Costs:

  • Monthly plan is $29.95/month
  • Quarterly plan is $19.98/month
  • Annual plan is $11.66/month

Comments

  1. Here’s a free alternative to Grammarly that is worth checking out: https://docgrader.com

    Doc Grader gives a lot more feedback regarding writing style (deeper dive than simple grammar or spelling issues). Also, it’s free.

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