Grammerly Pro

[madmaddygirl]

I had a story rejected because the moderator suggested I use AI tools. I do use Grammerly Pro in all my writing, especially at work writing emails and memorandums. Grammerly Pro never once “wrote” content. That came from my head. It does help polish the grammar and help with clarity. Why does this site reject stories that are original in thought, content, circumstance and nuance?

 

[AwkwardMD]

Aaaand drink

 

[AwkwardMD]

I had a story rejected because the moderator suggested I use AI tools. I do use Grammerly Pro in all my writing, especially at work writing emails and memorandums. Grammerly Pro never once “wrote” content. That came from my head. It does help polish the grammar and help with clarity. Why does this site reject stories that are original in thought, content, circumstance and nuance?

There are other threads that answer this question. Your circumstance is not a unique permutation of the problem. Feel free to use the forum search to find other discussions on this topic.

 

[PennyThompson]

It does help polish the grammar and help with clarity

Sorry, but that IS writing, and probably what's getting your story flagged as AI

 

[ElectricBlue]

I had a story rejected because the moderator suggested I use AI tools. I do use Grammerly Pro in all my writing, especially at work writing emails and memorandums. Grammerly Pro never once “wrote” content. That came from my head. It does help polish the grammar and help with clarity. Why does this site reject stories that are original in thought, content, circumstance and nuance?

There's the trap. My suggestion would be to stop using Grammarly. It's flavour is tainting your writing. There's been a bunch of threads on this subject over the last year or two, you should go find them. It's almost a universal truth that using Grammarly will get a story rejected.

You'd be better off studying the rules of grammar yourself, and apply them.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

Sorry, but that IS writing, and probably what's getting your story flagged as AI

You don't really know that.

Anyway, I don't really understand using anything above Grammarly free. It tells you if you misspell something, corrects punctuation, and tells you if you mix up tenses, although it's not always right. Anything beyond that is letting a tool rewrite your sentences.

 

[TheLobster]

 

[Bramblethorn]

As I understand it, a tool that says "this section may be unclear, consider rephrasing" would be permitted, but a tool that makes suggestions on how to rewrite would not be. Words are content; if the AI is offering words and you're taking those suggestions, even just for purposes of grammar/clarity, then you have AI-written content and that's not something the site owners wish to host.

 

[ronde]

I had a story rejected because the moderator suggested I use AI tools. I do use Grammerly Pro in all my writing, especially at work writing emails and memorandums. Grammerly Pro never once “wrote” content. That came from my head. It does help polish the grammar and help with clarity. Why does this site reject stories that are original in thought, content, circumstance and nuance?

If there is a significant difference between what you originally write and the final product after "polishing" with Grammerly, then it's Grammerly putting your thoughts into words and definitely not your writing. As others have said, stop using Grammerly as a crutch and learn the rules of grammar for yourself.

 

[PennyThompson]

You don't really know that.

Well, you're right that we don't know specifically what Laurel is using to detect or flag possible AI use.

But if she's relying on an AI detector like GPTZero or a similar tool, than Grammarly Pro features like "rewrite for clarity," or "adjust tone," are almost certainly going to trigger the detector.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Anyway, I don't really understand using anything above Grammarly free. It tells you if you misspell something, corrects punctuation, and tells you if you mix up tenses, although it's not always right. Anything beyond that is letting a tool rewrite your sentences.

The free version gives suggestions to do that. I looked at it when folk first start raving about it, years before the AI thing, and thought it might be vaguely useful for bland business writing - if you didn't know how to write - but for fiction, it was a joke. Unless you wanted bland, formulaic sentences. I would have always said, learn the rules of grammar yourself, don't rely on software. Mind you, that was in the day when Microsoft didn't know the difference between it's and its.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

The free version gives suggestions to do that. I looked at it when folk first start raving about it, years before the AI thing, and thought it might be vaguely useful for bland business writing - if you didn't know how to write - but for fiction, it was a joke. Unless you wanted bland, formulaic sentences. I would have always said, learn the rules of grammar yourself, don't rely on software. Mind you, that was in the day when Microsoft didn't know the difference between it's and its.

Sure, sometimes it offers to rearrange your sentence, and sometimes it just shows you it is an option available in the pro version. But yes, those suggestions should be ignored. While Grammarly does indeed know punctuation and spelling better than any human, it's a whole different story with actual writing. And to be honest, it's a matter of pride for me not to let it remake my own sentences. The day I can't outwrite an AI is the day I'll hang my pen.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

Well, you're right that we don't know specifically what Laurel is using to detect or flag possible AI use.

But if she's relying on an AI detector like GPTZero or a similar tool, than Grammarly Pro features like "rewrite for clarity," or "adjust tone," are almost certainly going to trigger the detector.

That's my point in a way. Many authors whose stories were rejected for AI testified that their work was passing the tests of online tools such as GPTZero with flying colors. Actually, it was that very fact often that made them frustrated and angry and they would often come to vent on the forum.

My point is that we don't really know much about the tools Laurel uses; we just believe it's none of the online tools available for free.

 

[14ALL]

You'd be better off studying the rules of grammar yourself, and apply them.

This is the answer. That and practice. Write, rewrite, then read your story as if you didn’t write it. Make changes where the tone isn’t right. Fix continuity errors. Develop thoughts and ideas that need further development. Then do it again. Make sure it reads the way you want it to read and conveys the ideas you want conveyed.

***How many grammatical errors can you find in what I just wrote??? There’s plenty but the text reads the way I want it to.

 

[HeyAll]

I mention this a lot in AI threads, but one thing AI writing seems to do is use a similar meaning word twice, with 'and' in the middle.

For example it might say, "he was furious and angry."

So if you happen to use "and" with two description, get that out.

 

[MillieDynamite]

First, Grammarly isn't designed for fiction. Second, it tends to reorder your words and put your closing clause as the opening clause, often making the sentence make less sense, not more. Third, it should be your choice to reword the sentence, even if it is correct, it doesn't make sense to allow it to do the rework. It works for business, I assume, but definitely only use it for spelling and grammar. Don't accept one change that isn't one of those two things. Gammarly also wants to change any descriptors to adverbs and it fucks up what you want then.

 

[Lathanar1]

English is hard for me, even though I've been speaking it for half a century. I used AI heavily at the start when I wanted to try writing. I popped in what I wrote to chatgpt and asked it for a summary list of grammar errors and the reasons why. Didn't take me long to figure out what my common mistakes were and train myself to make them less frequently. I still suck, but it's a more polished suck.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Polished sucking, how marvously for the receiver. Yeah, I'm bad!

English is hard for me, even though I've been speaking it for half a century. I used AI heavily at the start when I wanted to try writing. I popped in what I wrote to chatgpt and asked it for a summary list of grammar errors and the reasons why. Didn't take me long to figure out what my common mistakes were and train myself to make them less frequently. I still suck, but it's a more polished suck.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Grammerly Pro

First thing you should do is spell Grammarly properly. : P (I always get a kick out of Grammarly being one of the most misspelled words around here, sorry)

But if she's relying on an AI detector like GPTZero or a similar tool, than *cringe* Grammarly Pro features like "rewrite for clarity," or "adjust tone," are almost certainly going to trigger the detector.

Would GPTZero or Grammarly catch that?

 

[PennyThompson]

Would GPTZero or Grammarly catch that?

Ugh... When I'm writing seriously I end up googling "then or than," at least once per project...

Anyone got a good mnemonic device that would help me remember?

 

[MillieDynamite]

Then is a passage of time, than is a comparison, but no mnemonics here.

Back then, no one gave a shit if you bigger than her or not...

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Ugh... When I'm writing seriously I end up googling "then or than," at least once per project...

Anyone got a good mnemonic device that would help me remember?

Then refers to time or sequence. Than is a comparison. Is it time for 'then'? ; )

 

[14ALL]

There are so many words in the english language like this…. some are harder than others…. lay vs lie…

I keep wordhippo open on a separate tab that I flip back and forth to check on my word choices if I have any doubt.

 

[DreamingOfMyEx]

There are other threads that answer this question. Your circumstance is not a unique permutation of the problem. Feel free to use the forum search to find other discussions on this topic.

Or just scroll down and look for the discussions with the most responses.

Also, don't bother reading the original post - nobody else does.

If only we had a way of harnessing the power of all the rising blood pressures every time "AI" appeared in a subject line.

 

[OralAllOver]

I had a story rejected because the moderator suggested I use AI tools. I do use Grammerly Pro in all my writing, especially at work writing emails and memorandums. Grammerly Pro never once “wrote” content. That came from my head. It does help polish the grammar and help with clarity. Why does this site reject stories that are original in thought, content, circumstance and nuance?

Ya aint thought it thru proper