The wonderful people at Grammarly recently gave me the opportunity to test out their Premium services (I know. I'm a lucky girl right?!). Well, I'll be honest with you; I wasn't really sure what to expect. I've never used an online editing service before and so this was a first. I may never look back... Grammarly rocks!
So what is Grammarly?
Grammarly is a proofreading web application that finds and explains in-depth grammar, spelling, and punctuation mistakes. You can upload documents and instantly check grammar, punctuation, contextual spelling mistakes and more.
Grammarly's browser extension helps you write mistake-free in Gmail, Facebook, Wordpress, Tumblr, LinkedIn, and anywhere else you write on the Web. Simply hover over any word with the underscore to correct a mistake.
Here's a quick look at what you get:
When you log in you get taken to your dashboard.
You have two options for inputting the document you want to check.
1) Click "New" and type it in.
2) Upload it from your computer.
There is a limit of 20 pages so you may have to break larger files down into smaller segments. As 20 pages is quite a lot to check in the one go, it's not really a problem though.
When you open a new document it looks like this:
You then just type in your text (or copy and paste it in), and Grammarly will start checking it for you.
When the system finds an error it marks it like this:
You then just click on the word to insert the correction, or click on the "x" to ignore it. For more information about the correction, just click on the down arrow.
When you've finished editing your document you can either copy the text to your clipboard (CTRL C) or download the file.
At the bottom of the screen it gives you the number of issues found and an overall score.
The system picks up on spelling and grammar mistakes, but also notes "wordiness", "possibly confused word", "passive voice", "unclear antecedent" and "proposition at the end of sentence".
One of the things I liked was that you can select what you want to check. You just turn each option "on" or "off" depending on your needs.
You can also check for plagiarism. Again it's just a case of clicking the button.
There is the option of vocabulary enhancement. This can be useful if you tend to over use the same words.
Grammarly also gives you the option of more detailed proofreading.
You can pay to send your document to a proofreader. They have several options available but I'm not in the position to comment of the level of service as I haven't used it yet myself. These are the current rates:
Grammarly is best used as a "second set of eyes" for your writing as opposed to a replacement for a professional proofreader but is definitely a valid tool for writers of all levels. It made quick work of picking up on all those little errors that can slip through the net. I highly recommend it.
You can find out more about Grammarly at http://www.grammarly.com/grammar-check
You can find out more about Grammarly at http://www.grammarly.com/grammar-check
Have you used Grammarly? What about their Professional Proofreading services? We'd love to hear your feedback.
