Tools for Authors: Grammarly

Sorry, I missed this post last week. Things got pretty crazy here, and I couldn't get it written in time. I'm trying to use Saturdays for Tools for Authors.  And previously spoke about Natural Reader. Today I want to talk about Grammarly.

What is Grammarly?

According tot their site it is:

Grammarly is the world's leading writing enhancement app. It checks for more than 250 types of spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors, enhances vocabulary usage, and suggests citations. 

Widely used, they have more than 4 million registered users, including myself.

Here's an example of Grammarly in action.

One of the features I find particularly nice is that you can classify they "type" of the writing.  In other words, something more formal (like a research paper) will have slightly different analysis criteria than say a creative writing piece like a novel.

Now it should go without saying that Grammarly is not a replacement for a good editor, but it does do a good job pointing out some common problems and alerting you to something that might be an issue. The little "x" on the right can be used to ignore something that you know is correct. If you are not sure what it's trying to say, then the down arrow will give you more information.

How much does it cost?

Well like most programs it has a free trial.  It also offers several different payment plans:

• $29.95 if you get a month-by-month subscription
• $19.98 if you get it for a quarter (3 months) at a time
• $11.66 if you commit to a full year (which is what I did)

Additional Resources

Grammarly also has a Handbook, which you can use to learn the rules of grammar with topics such as how to use commas or hyphens. 

I've found Grammarly to be well worth the money. Check it out, and maybe you'll agree.