3 Reasons Why Grammarly Helped Me To Love Grammar

There seems to be no shortage of articles on why students and according to one post teachers, hate grammar.

One blog, English with Jennifer, offers ten reasons for this immense student dislike, while another article titled "Students Love Grammar! So Why Do Teachers Hate It?" suggest that "teaching grammar is boring."

With the advent of texting in which the English language has been broken down into a series of sometimes un-discernable acronyms and garbled syntax, using proper grammar seems to be more of a nuisance along the lines of your mother telling you to eat your Brussel sprouts because it is "good for you." There are even Internet and Text Slang Dictionary and Translator sites.

This disdain for grammar was on full display during a parent-teacher interview with my daughter's Grade 4 teacher when I had suggested that using a preposition at the end of a sentence was not acceptable. Her response to my assertion was that we no longer adhere to the rules of "old English."

What this means, is that instead of writing "For what do you use that hammer?", it is now acceptable to write "What do you use that hammer for?" In texting, you would probably write something along the lines of; "slam hamm what for?"

Given the above, grammar, as I knew it way back when is foreign to most people today.

For example, approaching a lady in the bar talking about a dangling participle is more likely to be seen as an unwelcome proposition leading to a slap in the face and immediate ejection from the premises.

However, there is still hope for the English language and writing in general; Grammarly.

Here are the reasons why I love Grammarly;

Reason #1: You can teach an old dog new tricks

According to my August Grammarly report, in the past four week period, I wrote 557,675 words, in which there was a total of just 930 grammatical errors. These figures translate into approximately one grammatical error for every 600 words written.

These latest results represent a tremendous improvement from when I first started using Grammarly in February. Back then, I committed a grammatical miscue every 23 words. Included in my transgressions were missing commas, passive voice sentences and numerous other issues.

The new statistics raise the question; did I suddenly get smarter? I do not think so, at least not according to my kids. The truth is that the more you use Grammarly, the more you learn (or relearn in my case) about the use of correct grammar.

What this means is that while I may not be Smarter Than A Fifth Grader in all other subjects, when it comes to questions of grammar I own it!

Reason #2: By using Grammarly I am helping to preserve the integrity of the English language

In some small way, I am making a positive contribution to the overall well being of society by "preserving" the integrity of the English language.

In other words, by using Grammarly, we might just keep the world from descending into an "ICYMI I have a FOMO on din-din because of my doink boyfriend LMAO." All I need to do is add the word "for" at the end of this sentence, and my daughter's teacher will be happy.

Reason #3: I no longer need an editor

As any writer will readily admit, the bane of their existence is their editor.

There are many reasons for our disdain, in fact too many to list here. Moreover, while editors will say that we writers are over-sensitive artists who recoil at the mere suggestion that every word that comes forth from our keyboard is not a masterstroke waiting to be discovered by a discriminating reader, the truth is our work is a part of who we are. So having some third party writer wannabe indiscriminately stroke a sentence with a red marker is tantamount to a slap in the face.

Just as an aside, the joke "What do you call 1,000 lawyers, chained together at the bottom of the ocean?" was originally about editors.

With Grammarly, I can now proofread my work confident in the knowledge that what I will be sharing with the world will be presented in a manner that does the English language proud.

Are You Grammatically Competent?

Take a quick minute to answer the following five questions to see if you are grammatically competent or deficient. PS, no cheating by looking up the terms on Google.

1. What is a dangling participle?
2. What is a preposition?
3. What does it mean to write in a "passive voice?"
4. What is an Oxford comma, and when do you use it?
5. What is a split infinitive?

How did you do?

If you had the right answers for all of them, I do not believe you.

If you mistook the above terms for being dolphin-speak, don't worry as there is always Grammarly.