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Abstract

<b>I started editing an already published piece.</b> And boy was I ill-prepared for that! 25 grammar corrections and several conciseness corrections afterward. OUCH! Next article… 32 corrections! Next one, 29. And I kept going. Kept pushing through the pain (yes, I am half hero, half masochist). My ego in tatters, and my confidence lying whimpering in the corner, I tried to take stock of the situation. Here I was, the Merriam-Webster-Man (How’s that for a superhero name?), getting my behind remodeled by the free version of a grammar checker. And after picking up the pieces of what used to be my pride, I started telling people around me to install this little thing.</p><h1 id="c59c">Who Cares?!</h1><p id="3aa3">Well, you do, I hope! If you don’t, step away from the keyboard, RIGHT NOW! No sudden movements! Any writer should care about correct grammar and avoiding stupid typos. Why? Because poor grammar can destroy a text like streaks of children's crayon on a Dutch still-life masterpiece!</p><p id="e144">Humans are essentially stupid animals, and we are very(!) driven by subconscious processes that we are neither aware of nor in control of. Surveymonkey.com did a study (<a href="https://www.surveymonkey.com/curiosity/can-you-put-a-price-on-good-grammar-study-says-yes/">link to study</a>), showing that 81% of female customers would pass on a product with sloppy grammar and misspelled words in the advertisement, and 77% of men responded likewise. Among young shoppers (millennials) 85% responded that grammar- and spelling errors would decrease the chance of them buying the product.</p><p id="a38c" type="7">Hiring managers with salaries of $72k and up were 92% less likely to hire a person with typos on their cover letter or résumé. — Survey by surveymonkey.com</p><p id="2a7c">So Grammarly, and its ilk, is not just for fiction buffs or get-rich-quick-writers on Medium, but a must for anyone(!!!) who writes as much as a single sentence meant to be read by someone else. If it’s for your mother, don’t sweat it, she loves you anyway. But ANYONE ELSE is going to judge you — consciously or unconsciously!</p><h1 id="d8d3">Practicalities</h1><p id="6cc2">So first off, is Grammarly easy to install? Yes, I gotta say it was even easier than I expected. And be honest, these days we have come to expect a lot regarding ease of installation. I simply clicked download and install and the whole thing was over in a jiffy. It even prompted me automatically to add the Chrome extension, which again was a breeze.</p><p id="6641">Is Grammarly easy to use and unintrusive? Yes. Here is an actual screenshot of me using Grammarly while writing this paragraph!</p><figure id="73dd"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v

Options

2/resize:fit:800/1*ZXhmFoX7FLxISY6zYiyXWw.png"><figcaption>Screenshot by <a href="https://medium.com/@Darwinian_Holdings">Eric Monk</a></figcaption></figure><p id="05fc">See the little red circle with the number “3”? That’s Grammarly showing me very kindly that I fucked up three places and should go back and fix them. I can click the circle and it will take me through the mistakes or I can find the red underlining directly in my text and hover to see the suggested change and accept or dismiss it right away. VERY easy!</p><p id="dadb">Does Grammarly work in Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, Chrome, etc.? Yes. I have yet to find an app it doesn’t play nice with. And if that happens, you can turn off Grammarly for that particular app. PowerPoint is so far the least positive experience, as Grammarly has to evaluate each little text field, <i>as you are writing in it, </i>which feels a little clumsy. Besides that it seems to work like a charm and shows up anytime I’m in a text field where I would feel like anti-typo-measures were due.</p><h1 id="034f">Takeaways</h1><ol><li>You <b>should</b> care about grammar and correct spelling</li><li>You <b>should</b> get a free grammar checker, such as Grammarly — even if you think you’re the Brude Lee of writing</li><li>Grammarly, at least, <b>does</b> work with almost any writing interface you will use on your PC.</li></ol><p id="cde2">I do not have any vested interest in Grammarly — no stocks, connections, relations, secret fantasies, or anything else to motivate me to write this piece, other than the desire to pass on my eye-opening experience</p><p id="78a7">For a quick tip on a somewhat hidden feature on Medium, read:</p><div id="a606" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/i-finally-found-out-how-to-freely-pick-topics-to-follow-on-medium-755fa232268b"> <div> <div> <h2>I finally found out how to FREELY pick topics to follow on Medium</h2> <div><h3>I can’t believe it took me this long… While I would never pretend to be the sharpest spoon in the drawer, I feel I’m…</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*uTupWYXWkgHPCsV_)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><p id="0fa0">I hope you enjoyed reading this. If you want to support me and the very talented <i>other</i> writers on Medium, please consider signing up to become a Medium member. If you use my <a href="https://medium.com/@Darwinian_Holdings/membership">referral link</a> I get a small commission at no extra cost to you.</p></article></body>

Learn to Love Grammarly and Avoid Being Unconsciously Judged

All about how Grammarly works and why I went from annoyed to advocate

“Why are Grammarly ads everywhere? It’s so annoying! Who needs this junk? My spelling is just fine, thank you very much, sir!” At least that is what I thought until very recently. Read on to learn why I changed my mind about this tool that I surely didn’t need.

I’ll start with my story and then move on to why you should care, and lastly provide a few little tips. Feel free to skip to the part that interests you

Once Upon a Time…

I was a confident young man with the full might of the pen at my fingertips. Sure, Microsoft Word would correct me every once in a while, but those were simple fat finger mistakes. I didn’t need some wiseguy grammar checker to play nanny for me when I was writing — much less a FREE one!

If you are anything like I was, thinking that you have that grammar-game down pretty well, you might also think Grammarly is nothing but a nuisance. But let me challenge you: If you are man/woman/sloth/other enough, and have the confidence for it, try out Grammarly — for free! But I warn you… I got my a** handed to me. By the free version mind you!

Release the Beast!

Having just been asked by a colleague to review his daughter's master's thesis abstract for English grammar (neither of us is a native English speaker), due to my superior skills with the preferred language of business, I felt like somewhat of a hotshot. Then, browsing through the rules of an interesting Medium publication I see that they require that the draft be checked with Grammarly. And I did the unthinkable… I registered and downloaded the damn thing.

I installed both the desktop app and the Chrome extension and started testing it out in Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Word, and Google Chrome. Everywhere, the little logo turned up in a non-intrusive location, and I later realized that even PowerPoint slides got a little more professional with the help of my little new assistant. Not too shabby!

At this point, I had still only test-driven Grammarly on short, quickly written texts, with some corrections here and there. But then I went and did something awful. I started editing an already published piece. And boy was I ill-prepared for that! 25 grammar corrections and several conciseness corrections afterward. OUCH! Next article… 32 corrections! Next one, 29. And I kept going. Kept pushing through the pain (yes, I am half hero, half masochist). My ego in tatters, and my confidence lying whimpering in the corner, I tried to take stock of the situation. Here I was, the Merriam-Webster-Man (How’s that for a superhero name?), getting my behind remodeled by the free version of a grammar checker. And after picking up the pieces of what used to be my pride, I started telling people around me to install this little thing.

Who Cares?!

Well, you do, I hope! If you don’t, step away from the keyboard, RIGHT NOW! No sudden movements! Any writer should care about correct grammar and avoiding stupid typos. Why? Because poor grammar can destroy a text like streaks of children's crayon on a Dutch still-life masterpiece!

Humans are essentially stupid animals, and we are very(!) driven by subconscious processes that we are neither aware of nor in control of. Surveymonkey.com did a study (link to study), showing that 81% of female customers would pass on a product with sloppy grammar and misspelled words in the advertisement, and 77% of men responded likewise. Among young shoppers (millennials) 85% responded that grammar- and spelling errors would decrease the chance of them buying the product.

Hiring managers with salaries of $72k and up were 92% less likely to hire a person with typos on their cover letter or résumé. — Survey by surveymonkey.com

So Grammarly, and its ilk, is not just for fiction buffs or get-rich-quick-writers on Medium, but a must for anyone(!!!) who writes as much as a single sentence meant to be read by someone else. If it’s for your mother, don’t sweat it, she loves you anyway. But ANYONE ELSE is going to judge you — consciously or unconsciously!

Practicalities

So first off, is Grammarly easy to install? Yes, I gotta say it was even easier than I expected. And be honest, these days we have come to expect a lot regarding ease of installation. I simply clicked download and install and the whole thing was over in a jiffy. It even prompted me automatically to add the Chrome extension, which again was a breeze.

Is Grammarly easy to use and unintrusive? Yes. Here is an actual screenshot of me using Grammarly while writing this paragraph!

See the little red circle with the number “3”? That’s Grammarly showing me very kindly that I fucked up three places and should go back and fix them. I can click the circle and it will take me through the mistakes or I can find the red underlining directly in my text and hover to see the suggested change and accept or dismiss it right away. VERY easy!

Does Grammarly work in Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, Chrome, etc.? Yes. I have yet to find an app it doesn’t play nice with. And if that happens, you can turn off Grammarly for that particular app. PowerPoint is so far the least positive experience, as Grammarly has to evaluate each little text field, as you are writing in it, which feels a little clumsy. Besides that it seems to work like a charm and shows up anytime I’m in a text field where I would feel like anti-typo-measures were due.

Takeaways

You should care about grammar and correct spelling
You should get a free grammar checker, such as Grammarly — even if you think you’re the Brude Lee of writing
Grammarly, at least, does work with almost any writing interface you will use on your PC.

I do not have any vested interest in Grammarly — no stocks, connections, relations, secret fantasies, or anything else to motivate me to write this piece, other than the desire to pass on my eye-opening experience

For a quick tip on a somewhat hidden feature on Medium, read:

I finally found out how to FREELY pick topics to follow on Medium

I can’t believe it took me this long… While I would never pretend to be the sharpest spoon in the drawer, I feel I’m…

medium.com

I hope you enjoyed reading this. If you want to support me and the very talented other writers on Medium, please consider signing up to become a Medium member. If you use my referral link I get a small commission at no extra cost to you.