Grammar checking tools

Hey everyone,

I’ve been trying to get my writings on high PR websites like ezine and hubpages, but since english wasn’t not my first language sometimes my writing get rejected for grammatical error. Does anyone know any tools that work good for grammar checking?

thanks.

The problem with any kind of automated grammar checker (especially in English, it may not be so bad in other languages) is that the language is so complicated that it will frequently highlight errors in text that is perfectly correct while missing other glaring mistakes.

You can start by using the grammar checker in a general word processor (eg Microsoft Word), but the best solution is to get someone with good English skills to proof-read it. If you don’t know anyone who could help you out then you may need to pay for that service.

The mistakes are not only with spelling, but you might make other ones regarding phrasing and these cannot be easily ‘monitored’. I am not a native English speaker and it kinda shows. using a text editor with spell check and someone to proof read your materials might help.

As much as I hate to plug Microsoft, Microsoft Word does have one of the best grammar checkers I’ve seen. A good alternative is the free OpenOffice.

However, like Stevie said, they aren’t perfect, so you have to take their errors with a grain of salt.

It would probably be helpful after you run it through one of those that you give it to an native English speaker to read over for you.

I use Open Office (well Libre Office) and actually the grammar checker isn’t the best or even nearly as intuitive as the one in MSWord. There are several others like Grammarly, which is probably the best (which isn’t free even though it’s listed as free on Google).

I use Pro Spell Checker plus, but unfortunately it makes a lot of its own errors and asks a lot of questions that could make checking even more confusing and difficult for a non-native English writer. Questions such as “Did you mean your or you’re?” and errors such as “It’s inappropriate to start a sentence with ‘because’ ?” (a quite antiquated rule and not a great one for the web.)

I also use Paper Rater, which is pretty good, but again, I have never found an automated grammar checker that didn’t make errors of its own.

The best thing you can do is use a look up reference like Owl of Purdue to help you know what’s the right thing to do in the first place.

We also have an entire thread already devoted to grammar resources plus another that is full of [URL=“http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?529530-Online-Web-Content-Writer-Resources”]good resources for writers. Please take the time to read through them. Then, if you have a specific question that hasn’t been answered, come back and post it. However, for now, this thread is closed.