Have you ever wished that spell checking was available in WordPress, LinkedIn, Facebook or other web based applications? It is, thanks to a browser extension called Grammarly. This month’s productivity tip, courtesy of The Streamlined Office, explains the pros and cons of Grammarly. It works with Chrome, Safari, and Firefox.
Grammarly comes in two versions; FREE and PREMIUM. The free version is like the spell-check you are familiar with when using Microsoft® Office™. Grammarly will underline your spelling errors. All you need to do is hover over the underlined word to chose a correction. It will suggest the proper spelling and allow you to add words it does not recognize into the dictionary. Grammarly also checks the context of a word in a sentence and will make corrections. Examples are words like choose/chose, affect/effect, and gray/grey for instance. Grammar is also checked. This includes things like proper verb conjugation, subject-verb agreement, and the proper use of articles. Grammarly will notify you if you have missed punctuation marks.
If you do a lot of web-based writing, Grammarly Premium might be worth the $11.66/month (billed annually). The premium benefits include help with sentence structure including the incorrect order of words, vocabulary enhancement which is a great feature to help diversify your writing, and plagiarism detection. The last function tests your writing by comparing it to over 8 billion web pages. There is also a Microsoft ®Office™ add-in that allows you to take advantage of these advanced features from within the Microsoft suite of products.
To try it out, simply go to the Grammarly official website. Click the button to add the Grammarly extension to your web browser. You will be asked to create an account by providing a name, email address, and password. You can also sign up using your Facebook account. After installing the extension, you will see the Grammarly “G” icon appear in your toolbar. That’s it! If you decide you don’t want to keep it, simply click the icon and you will be given an option to remove it.
So far, my only complaint is that a mobile version does not exist for Grammarly. Mobile spell check apps will have to be a topic for another blog!
The Streamlined Office can help you organize and streamline your home or business office. Whether you need help with paper and digital clutter or the use of technologies like Grammarly, we can help. Contact The Streamlined Office today for a FREE consultation or Sign Up to receive a copy of our biweekly blog delivered right to your inbox!