I’ve been hanging out with Grammarly lately. Not a lot of fun. She’s still the same nit-picking pain she was the last time we got together. No personality, no sense of humour.
To give the program her due, Grammarly has some good points…
Canadian spelling is a mixed bag of U.K. and U.S. practices. Generally, we side with England, writing defence with a C not an S, colour with the addition of a U, and theatre with an RE instead of ER.
Occasionally, we switch allegiance and go with American custom, writing organize with a Z instead of an S, and hemoglobin with an E not an AE.
Confusing?
Not to us, and not to Grammarly.
Canadian spelling is an area where Grammarly absolutely shines, gently reminding me of what is or is not Canadian style.
The girl knows her way around commas and hyphens, too, but she’s a tad bit prejudiced. Grammarly hates Passive Voice and despises ellipses. Those three little dots really piss her off.
In the program’s defence, Grammarly is an excellent teacher, tirelessly patient, and generous with her praise. Whenever I’ve rearranged a sentence to her satisfaction, she gives me a pat on the back and a ‘Well done, you.’
Embarrassing, but true, when that little green check mark pops up, and Grammarly says, “You must have been practicing.” I do a little happy dance.
AimerBoyz 
I recently watched a Public TV program featuring John McWhorter called “Words on the Move.” He is a very humorous guy who gave many examples how words have changed in meaning over time. I’m guessing the rules for grammar have changed also. You can now end a sentence with a preposition, which would have made an editor scream in the past. I still check grammar books when I’m not sure, but Grammerly isn’t on my list of authorities. And what the hell is wrong with an ellipse…. Walt Whitman used them cleverly.
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I probably need a little more backbone, I have trouble talking back to Grammarly 🙂
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She likes to hang out at the end of that sentence and sometimes doesn’t leave! Glad she like you 🙂
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LOL! I think it’s time to show her the door 🙂
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I’ve always been overly fond of passive voice. Some things just sound too awkward in active voice.
It annoyed me when WordPress switched over to the block editor back whenever that was, and Grammarly stopped working within the WP editor.
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I didn’t realize how often I used Passive Voice until Grammarly pointed it out. There’s a softer, more contemplative feel to Passive Voice that I like.
I don’t use Grammarly on a regular basis, but I’ve paid for a month subscription twice now to go through manuscripts because I suck at proofreading 🙂
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I’m completely useless at proofreading my own work. No matter how blatantly obvious mistakes are, I inevitably read what I expect to see rather than what’s actually on the page.
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It’s shocking how many times you can look at something and not see it!
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Same here! I’ve been using Grammarly for the last few years. She’s like a best friend to me, although the occasional thing she says doesn’t always make sense to me. But being dyslexic, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate having her around every day.
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She definitely helps with all those pesky commas 🙂
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