# Please recommend free grammar-checking software. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 31, 2015, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-free-grammar-checking-software/711399 "2015-01-31T02:13:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2015, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-free-grammar-checking-software/711399/1 "2015-01-31T02:13:52Z")
I fell asleep whenever we were supposed to diagram sentences. My AP style book went missing thirty-five years ago. I never finished my Strunk and White (sleeping again) and it’s gone, too. My old, DOS grammar software was slow, even on a 386, and was overly-sensitive about the passive voice. The one built into LibreOffice Writer is too limited. I have winged it for decades, but I am curious where I have gone wrong over the same decades. Is there good, free software to slap my hand when I go nuts with commas and hyphens? Note, however, that it will have to pry my serial commas out of my cold, dead hands. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2015, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-free-grammar-checking-software/711399/2 "2015-02-01T00:10:19Z")
It is apparent that the answer is no. [http://papyr.com/hypertextbooks/grammar/gramchek.htm](http://papyr.com/hypertextbooks/grammar/gramchek.htm) On the bright side, if I were to go to the local junior college to take a grammar class, that guy might be the teacher. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2015, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-free-grammar-checking-software/711399/3 "2015-02-01T00:17:40Z")
You could hire an editor. In my experience, all the software is too picky about some things and ignorant about others. ---
**Author:** ![Marion\_Wormer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d07c76/32.png) [@Marion\_Wormer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marion_Wormer)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2015, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-free-grammar-checking-software/711399/4 "2015-02-01T16:57:35Z")
Apparently, no one cares about good grammar anymore anyway. So, why bother? Unless you’re publishing in a legitimate venue, you can get away with just about anything, and only the grammar nazis will care. (Yes, I’m bitter.) ---
**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2015, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-free-grammar-checking-software/711399/5 "2015-02-01T18:24:18Z")
Google Docs/Drive has a built in grammar checker. Also, there are third party Chrome extensions to use with Docs/Drive. For example > **[Grammar and Spelling checker by Ginger](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/grammar-and-spelling-chec/kdfieneakcjfaiglcfcgkidlkmlijjnh?utm_source=chrome-ntp-icon)** > > Improve your English communication with Ginger's #1 spelling and grammar checker! ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2015, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-free-grammar-checking-software/711399/6 "2015-02-02T02:59:41Z")
> [@kayT](#): > > You could hire an editor. To clean up my posts here? 😉 I tried the current version of Language Tool with Libre Write and it worked exactly as he described: Not at all. It found none of his errors. From now on I’m going to assume I’m perfect. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2015, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-free-grammar-checking-software/711399/7 "2015-02-02T06:05:52Z")
Good grammar checking software requires either programming in rules–a problem since no language is perfectly regular with its rules–or having the computer learn the rules itself, meaning you’d need a large set of assuredly grammatical content and ungrammatical content in order for it to learn the difference. The latter is how machine translation works, and you can see how good we are at that right now. A grammar check of that sort would be of that quality. The best we can do is program in a few obvious mistakes, and communicating what we think the mistake is to the user, so that they can decide for themselves if they made a mistake. So not really for anyone who doesn’t know grammar, just maybe an extra check for unintentional mistakes. And that’s all any grammar check I’ve ever seen does. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2015, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-free-grammar-checking-software/711399/8 "2015-02-03T04:40:21Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > The latter is how machine translation works, and you can see how good we are at that right now. A grammar check of that sort would be of that quality. That bad, eh? What also I found interesting in that article I linked was where the author of _Grammatik_ spoke of how it appeared that no development on it has taken place since he sold it to WordPerfect in 1992. The one in Word also appears to have reached a point where nobody cares to make it better.