Grammarly: AI Grammar Correction

This is Generative Phil, where I try new AI tools to solve one of my real problems and give it a rating between 1 - 10 Evil Robot Overlords (10, of course, being so essential it's a little scary).

As an avid reader of my work may have noticed, I often overlook spelling and grammatical errors unless I use spellcheck (or Jim Louderback lets me know afterward, which is a common occurrence).

I'm a naturally fast writer, which is why my tone is conversational and somewhat messy.

I'd love to find an AI tool to identify these issues and help me rewrite clunky sentences without changing my natural tone.

Enter Grammarly , a tool that uses AI to help correct and improve your writing.

Think Clippy if he said, "That sentence is weird. Can I rewrite it for you?"

Feels like exactly what I need!

So let's get started.

PROBLEM

For this edition, the text that you're reading right now is my problem. Since this is a review, it wouldn't be fair to blend my regular writing with Grammarly writing, so I'll keep my original sentence and bold the changed sentence underneath. For example:

As this is a review, it wouldn't be fair to mix my original writing with the writing corrected by Grammarly. Therefore, I will keep my original sentence and bold the revised sentence underneath as an example. For instance: the text you're reading right now is my concern in this edition.

I want to make sure my newsletters are a smooth read.

PROCESS

Downloading Grammarly was a breeze. There's a free version (THANK YOU!!!) that exists as a Chrome widget. I did end up in a loop with a tutorial screen where I had to click 'skip' or it kept taking me to the same login screen, but that's a minor bug.

During the onboarding process, Grammarly did a great job of making me feel like it wouldn't be too invasive. It asked about the specific technologies I will be using with Grammarly, so I selected LinkedIn as my trial.

As I started writing this post, Grammarly's widget had a little non-invasive widget showing on my screen that I could expand at any time:

So I can simply highlight text and select from the following or nudge the AI in any direction I'd like:

So let's try 'Improve it' with a mess of a sentence:

Without Grammarly, my writing was full of errors that made it hard to read sometimes as I'm often writing these posts on my iPhone.

Becomes:

My writing was full of errors, making it hard to read on my iPhone without Grammarly.

So as you see, it just made a context mistake. I said I wrote posts on my iPhone and when I 'Improved it', it changed it to 'read'. Completely different.

But when it does get it right, you can replace it in one click. You can also try it again and get a different result.

As you can see, you get 100 free prompts with the free version until you have to upgrade. Pretty good trial!

RESULTS

Let's try with the last three blocks from the above section:

"I want to point out that the context of the AI tool I was using was incorrect. I mentioned that I wrote posts on my iPhone, but when I clicked on 'Improved it', it changed the word 'wrote' to 'read'. These two words have completely different meanings. However, when the tool does interpret correctly, you can easily replace the word with just one click. Additionally, you can try again for a different result. Another great feature is that with the free version, you get 100 free prompts before having to upgrade, which is a good trial period."

It doesn't preserve the formatting, but I should also mention my real-time spelling and grammatical errors throughout this newsletter were caught.

But it doesn't always preserve the original tone. Like so many AI writing tools, it naturally wants everything to sound like a term paper.

RATING

This tool is fantastic, and I will be upgrading to the premium version right after this post.

I'm pretty sure this is a GPT wrapper and shares the same context confusion. The re-writing often has to be re-written, but it saves a lot of cycles as you stare at one of your sentences and ask, "How do I make this sound less weird?"

And when you clear out all of the basic errors, it does give you a premium upgrade box telling you how many lines could be improved for clarity and context. Excited to try that out.

I'm giving Grammarly eight Evil Robot Overlords out of ten. Way more impressive than the spellcheck we've had for decades, but still needs improvement for tone and accuracy:

Thanks for reading! Subscribe so you never miss an issue!

And if you have pitches for what tech you'd like me to cover next, let me know in the comments.

About the Author

Phil Ranta, is the CEO of Spree , a shoppable video platform and media company focused on health and wellness creators and brands. A 2021 LinkedIn Top Voice in Innovation & Tech, Phil has been creating content for the Internet and building Internet businesses professionally for nearly 20 years, starting on MySpace and riding trends to the present. He was the Head of Gaming Creators, North America at Facebook, the first network lead at Fullscreen, the COO at Studio71, and spent 10 years as a working comedian (including 2 years on cruise ships). He's a husband, a dad of two littles, and an insufferable digital media wonk.

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