About editing, spelling, etc...

[mlyn]

Editing sucks, but it is a fact of life.

Is there a GOOD program that anyone knows of that does do some editing (grammar, spelling, gross errors)?

Word doesn't like things that I am positive are correct, and misses things I know are wrong.

What is wrong with himself, herself and their?????? Word seems to hate these words... Speaking the sentence out loud sounds correct... so what is the freaking problem?

Just wondering...

 

[abashed-dreamer]

Himself and Herself are perfectly good words, as in

She hurt herself.

Myself is often misused.

Father hit George and myself.XX

'Their' is fine, but not in singular.

Each of the students took their books. XX

 

[Chicklet]

Argh!!! I absolutely hate grammar check on word. It disagrees with all my creative urges! SO I JUST TURN IT OFF!

I don't know of any good grammar programs, or spelling programs for that matter. Unfortunatly for all of us, I have to use my common sense <grin>

Sorry I couldn't be of help.

Chicklet

 

[Axeltheswede]

spelling help

I have been using a word processing program called Roughdraft. I got it free on their website Roughdraft.com

It has American and British English spell check that allows checking on individual words as well as whole blocks of text.

It doesn't have a grammar program. I haven't missed that. There are so many discrepancies between programs anyway.

 

[Closet Desire]

Please remember one thing...

...if you want what you write to have the same richness as the language we hear and speak day-to-day then don't rely on programs or even grammar books to help you. Many of the "classics" are classics because of how well the writer handled the different speech styles of the characters--Joseph in Wuthering Heights--for example.

It's sort of a shame that we are taught to write in such a formal, uptight way. I was criticised for using a conversational style on my thesis papers (in English lit) until I reached post graduate level. Then it was welcomed (if you've ever had to read academic journals then you know why).

Rely on a style book for those nitpicking questions like where to put a comma or semi-colon, how to punctuate dialogue, and so forth, but to really write things that your reader will sink into listen to those around you and identify their style.

You won't be sorry (doesn't that sound better than "You will not be sorry?")

 

[WildLynx]

Editing sucks, but it is a fact of life.

Is there a GOOD program that anyone knows of that does do some editing (grammar, spelling, gross errors)?

See if you can find a program called Grammatik. Yes, they spell it funny. I don't remember if it had a spell check function. I had an old version of this program and it could be adjusted to fit a variety of writing styles. It is an add on program that works with MS Word and most other processors. You do need to understrand grammar fairly well to adjust it though.

Unfortunately, Word has a lousy grammar checker, but it can be set to strict, business, or casual if you can find the options section.

Or... just forget it and buy a decent grammar book.

 

[Omni]

I have been using Corel Wordperfect, up to 9 now, started at Wordperfect 6. Maybe after all these years we have reached an understanding old Perfect and me? But, I think it does a credible job as backup. Just another tool in the long line of tools to be used for editing.
Is funny though, when I take a grammar checked story from Wordperfect into MS word. They disagree!! big time on what is proper and what is not. >laughing>
Also, Corel is always telling me cock and pussy are offensive terms and I should consider revising them. But, that makes me feel like I am really doing something racy!


Keep smilin!

Omni

 

[Quasimodem]

Grammatik

Right! Grammatik came bundled with my copy of WordPerfect Version 6 for Windows.

Perhaps Corel got the bugs worked out of it in Version 7, but it's the flakiest part of my word processor.

I only use Grammatik for its Statistics.

} Percentage of Passive to Active Voice Verbs
} Degree of Complexity of Sentences
} Ratio of Long to Short Words, Sentences, Paragraphs
} Et Cetera

To prod myself to chop up a complex sentence into shorter compound sentences.
To recast sentences from gerunds: "was working" to transitive verbs: "work" or "worked."
To attempt to edit from the usual [Paragraph Length Sentences] to the more desirable [Single Thought Paragraphs].

You know! It's no wonder I dislike Grammatik so much!

 

[jon.hayworth]

I have considered writing an erotic piece and letting MS Word's Grammar Checker do it's worst.

"The person dropped to her knees, at his orders she kissed the person's rampant cock ...."

Or something to that effect.

Seriously I do think the Grammar Checker no matter how good or how bad, does serve a function. It at least makes the author question the validity of his (or her), (shit ms grammar checker's got me going PC) sentence structure. That in it's self is no bad thing.

Been looking for a good (modern) Grammar and Style book today.

jon

 

[Uther_Pendragon]

Spellcheckers are almost a necessity for me.
They don't catch everything, "Their over they're with there books," e.g.
But they do catch many of my mistakes. Then I send a
story to a proofreader/editor.
I don't use grammar checkers. When I first got one of
those, the program was so clunky that I gave up on it.
Generally, my ear catches any inelegancies.
Spelling, OTOH, is not one of my strong points. I NEED a
spellchecker.
I find the MS Word do-it-on-the-run spellchecker, however,
terribly annoying. I write in WordStar, myself.
You write, THEN you spellcheck. I write, THEN I
edit/rewrite, THEN I spellcheck. (Then, often, I
edit/rewrite again.)
The times when the juices are simmering is the time to
churn out copy, not the time to correct "teh" to "the."
One man's opinion.

 

[secretdesire]

I really don't like Word's grammar check, but I don't shut it off because it CAN sometimes be helpful. I'll usually write in any old text program (the smaller and aimpler the better) and then copy it all to Word for editing (spellcheck, reworking grammar, etc).

Someone mentioned not liking spellcheck "as you go" and I couldn't agree more. It's too intrusive to the writing process to constantly have to pay attention to misspellings. I prefer to let the ideas flow and worry about clean-up later.