Is Grammarly useful?

[watermark]

I've been seeing a lot of ads on Grammarly lately. Supposedly its premium version can help you write better in addition to correcting grammar.

Has anyone used this? Is it worth it?

[Theglasshouse]

Try the free version first to make sure you like its suggestions. It can be used in an email browser. It's no magic solution for me. But if English is your native language it will help a lot and make you edit faster. I happen to use the free version since I write short stories. You can proofread something under 5000 words in your email with the plug in installed. Don't take its suggestions blindly. Being that it can make mistakes. I don't take all of its suggestions. Sometimes it will suggest an error. Which you can then click ignore. It's expensive. Make sure to try a discount. I like prowriting aid, and some think it is better. It's not compatible with the latest word applications though.(2019) I have yet to try ginger.

[RWK]

I prefer MS Word and an on-line thesaurus. If you write in a genre that is inclined to technical or odd words (I write in both fantasy and zombie genres) it is largely useless when you get into setting-specific terminology.

[Theglasshouse]

I will also mention I tried prowriting aid which is considerably cheaper or just 70 a year. It's a good program. The error detection is not as robust as grammarly. It depends on what you are looking for to check, or what sort of errors you make. Grammarly can detect fragments often. Prowriting aid has a grammar checker and style checker but doesnt detect as many fragments imo. The style checker has more feautures if you use prowriting aid.

So if you are going for style prowriting aid would be your pick and if the price is an issue. There are sometimes discounts on prowriting aid during the year. Grammarly always has discounts it seems all year-long. There's'also a free trial of prowriting aid. Again if you have word 2019 it wont work (prowriting aid). That was since last december when I had my subscription.

On the other hand if you want to compose stories on the internet web browser you can do so with both. For some reason prowriting aid detects more grammar errors online (web browser version).

It depends on what you want to do. I don't know but using a free trial of prowriting aid could determine that. Also, grammarly as you already know is free on your web browser with the plug in if you have a google account (where I use it most often).

[Justin Attas]

It's better than having no check at all, but I've found it's particularly picky about passive voice.

[MzSnowleopard]

In my experience with Grammarly it's great for things like business letters and resumes.l When it comes to creative writing though- pass. I found that with my creative works Grammarly made suggestions that usurped my style. It kept 'suggesting' I rephrase this sentence or that, basically, making me feel as if the creator / programmer was telling my "forget your style, write it my way." And I have issues with this... it doesn't matter if it's a person or a program, if writers wrote in the same way then the stories out there would feel the same- then it wouldn't matter which authors we read because the stories would be alike. And that's boring.

[lmpierce]

Yeah, I think it depends on what you're using it for. I don't find it useful as an editing substitute by any stretch (though, unless you have a background in writing and English, I don't recommend skipping editing at all). Some people find it useful in the casual ways mentioned but I personally just use the built ins and a thesaurus and online dictionary as needed.

[S.J.T. Cornerststone]

Grammarly kind of helps for me. I'm notorious for having bad grammar, without having someone proofread it for me. So, Grammarly can help, but it's susceptible to some flaws. However, it's been relatively reliable for me, yet I encourage you have someone proofread as well.

[Fiender]

I use the free version to check my writing. It's no substitute for any other form of editing, but it helps catch things I might otherwise miss.

[matthew1959]

I ended up with a different, less expensive competitor, ProWritingAid. I find it to be useful as long as I use it as a guide. It's really good for misspelled words and shows sentences that could be improved. I also like the analysis that shows when I've used a word, or phrase too often. It also helps identify passive sentences. Overall, it's been worth the money.