Polishing My Words

I write daily, but that doesn’t mean I’m a grammar queen. High school English class was long ago, so I spend some time consulting The Elements of Style, Google, Grammar Girl and my AP Stylebook quite often.

A few weeks ago, I noticed Grammarly, was offering a free trial of their basic grammar-checking plugin. I decided to give it a shot and see if it’d make any difference in my daily time at the keyboard.

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links or advertisements. I earn a small commission if you shop through them, which helps fund this website so I can continue to bring you amazing content. All opinions are my own.

I write using a desktop PC and primarily use Firefox for my web browser. Unlike pretty much everyone, I don’t use Word for my writing. My computer is a Frankenstein built by my techie hubby and his IT-guru friend, so I have mostly freeware for my daily use. For writing, I use Jarte.

With my set-up, I’ve noticed Grammarly automatically pops in and makes suggestions when I’m writing emails, updating social media and filling out web forms. It also helped with this blog post!

I fat-finger the keyboard a lot. It’s nice that Grammarly instantly catches my silly spelling errors. The app also points out when I need to tweak tense or make something plural/singular. I love that!

However, my default freebie version is programmed to use serial commas. I’m am AP Style girl, so serial commas aren’t usually in my plans. Every time Grammarly asks if I want to place a comma before the last item in a list, I shake my head.

“No sweetie. I like AP Style,” I whisper to my computer screen. I wonder if there’s a way to change that setting.

Grammarly, The World’s Best Automated Proofreader, sends me cool emails each week. They highlight my top grammar mistakes, my accuracy, unique word usage and how many words I wrote.

I think this app is pretty cool for anyone who writes often, is updating a resume or applying for a new job. It’d be a gold mine for high school and college students who need to make sure their prose passes the scrutinizing eyes of a teacher.

I say go for it. The free download is, yep, free. Of course I’ve been receiving emails asking me to upgrade to a paid version, but for now, I’m fine with this level of assistance.