Monday, July 9, 2012

WHERE TO FIND HELP FOR YOUR GRAMMAR SINS

Do you have a grammar sin? One you find repeatedly in your writing? I do. I'll confess. When I began my writing journey more than a year ago, I discovered a horrible truth.

I was a comma whore. I placed commas the way I spoke not according to accepted grammar rules. Even with a graduate degree in hand, I had  forgotten, over the years,  how to write a well-structured sentence. How humiliating! 
Cover of

Cover of The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition
Once I realized the error of my ways, courtesy of my writer's group, I took off  to the bookstore. It was time for a refresher course.  Strunk & White's, The Elements of Style, was my first purchase. It is the number one grammar book recommended for writers everywhere. If you don't have copy, pick one up.



In addition to Strunk & White, I also found a number of software programs available online and easy to download. Bear in mind, while not perfect, they are excellent resources.  


The programs won't do everything for you. They won't complete your unfinished manuscript, but they will teach you a lot about grammar and editing.


Want to tighten your writing skills? Improve your grammar? Come on, confession is good for the writing soul....


Unburden yourself. Confess your grammar sins, then check out these wonderful editing tools. 

Here, you'll find some of my favorites,  acquired along the way in an effort to shed my own grammar sin. I'm a work in progress.


  1. About: Is a book editor, easy to down load and can manage from 400-100,000 words, depending on the membership you choose. 
  2. What it Does: The program analyzes your writing sample for the following: overused words, sentence variation, cliches & redundancies, repeated words & phrases, pacing, dialog, initial pronouns, readability and homonyms. 
  3. Cost/Membership: ranges from free which is word limited to fee based ($47-117/year). Offers a free trial.
My favorite of all the programs, I chose to pay the fee and have found that the benefits, for me, outweigh the cost.




Writer's Diet Test       Is your writing flabby or lean?  
  1. About: Designed by Helen Sword, this program evaluates writing samples of   100-1000 words.
  2. What it Does: each category: verbs, nouns, adjectives/ adverbs, prepositions, and waste words (is, that, this, there) is scored  from lean to heart attack zone 
  3. Cost/Membership:  A great, free tool!

  1.  About: Is a copy editor that helps refine your writing. A copy and paste Beta program, it is word limited.
  2. What it Does: Identifies common mistakes, such as adverbs, passive voice, weak words, 'said' replacements, ending with prepositions and often-misplaced words. 
  3. Cost/Membership: Free for the using. 
EditMinion is another good tool for identifying those pesky adverbs.


Grammarly  
  1. About: An automated proofreader and grammar coach. Windows compatible, it can be downloaded as an office add-in to your WordPerfect and used as an additional grammar tool. Grammarly is not fully compatible for Mac users; although Mac users can utilize the program by copying and pasting.
  2. What it Does: Checks writing samples for grammar, punctuation, writing style, and even plagiarism.  
  3. Cost/Membership:  $39.95  every 3 months. Offers a free trial.
Last but not least...


  1. About: A fantastic and fun site on teaching grammar to anyone.
  2. What it Does: Offers lessons, courses, free PDF books and ongoing emails on grammar from beginning to advanced. 
  3. Cost/Membership: Some books do have a fee, others are free for download. Please refer to the site. Sign up to receive bimonthly grammar quiz emails and challenge yourself. If you have children, keep this site bookmarked!

So, Do you have a hidden grammar sin? Do you want help? Check these software programs  out and let me know what you think. Did they help you? Did the quality of your writing improve? Send me a well-written sentence and let me know how you're doing. 


Enhanced by Zemanta
POSTED BY: