On the Craft of Writing: Tools every writer needs.
Choosing a Free Grammar Checker
Great tools to improve your grammar and writing style.
Sure you know, some people do not like to read, that is no surprise. In the same way, most people don’t enjoy writing. That is why Writers exist. We are writers because we enjoy doing it; and also because we have a story to tell.
If you are initiating yourself in the craft of writing; or are new at Medium as a form to explore where it takes you, there is something you should know: faulty grammar is an eyesore. Even if English is not your native language, I will present you with tools to improve your writing.
I wrote my first story when I was in high school. I could say I reached my first milestone when I became a weekly columnist at The Vanguard, my university’s newspaper. English was my second language. Before I submitted my finished articles to the editor, I had them revised at the English writing laboratory, where we would go over the entire text. Back then, there was no internet, and the Computer Science lab only had IBM PC Jr. computers. Nowadays, there are tons of tools to help us along the way to becoming an author.
Despite all the great free (and paid) resources out there, some aspiring writers think lightly of how they put their message out. I am about to complete an online specialization in Creative Writing, and I was disconcerted to observe peers submit stories which they had not cared to revise. If they didn’t care, would I waste my time reading it?
The Symptoms
Maybe you are not getting enough readers. Or perhaps your statistics tell you that people are not reading the entire article. While there could be many reasons for the latter, and bad grammar is a possibility.
Your story is the flower, and the reader is the bee that visits it, extracts the pollen, and spreads it elsewhere.
Think of it; long sentences or paragraphs, incorrect spelling, lousy punctuation. If your audience has to read parts several times to get the gist, they will get tired and stop. You are not conveying the message.
The flower and the bee have a fruitful relationship because both benefit from it. The bee obtains a succulent juice to take to the hive, and the flower gets its pollen spread to procreate.
As a writer, you want people to read your stories. For that, you must entertain your readers, or at least let them learn something new. The time they dedicate to you must be worthwhile.
The Solution
Here is a thing Dutch people love: free stuff. Here I am going to present you with not one but several alternatives to boost the quality of your text. Best of all, they are all free! All have an improved version with more features for a price, but their free versions do wonders.
Multilingual writers unite! we were not left behind!
And, if you — like me — are a multilingual writer, I got news from you, two of the alternatives showcased below are suitable for you!
Base Features to Look For
These are the basic extra features I expected in these grammar checkers. Everything else is a nice-to-have:
- Word count statistics (words, characters, sentences, paragraphs)
- Time statistics (reading time, perhaps speaking time)
- Readability assessment
Word count is important because, for writers, a word count range is almost always part of the equation when speaking with editors or taking assignments.
Time statistics are also good, and you see them given in all Medium articles. Lengthy articles may not rate well in a world where everybody appears to be in a rush or have a short attention span.
A readability assessment is handy when you consider your audience. It may use the Flesch-Kincaid ease of reading scale, but it is not the only one. If your text targets an academic audience, you should aim for lower Flesch scores. Otherwise, higher Flesch scores are better.
ENGLISH Only Alternatives
The grammar checkers mentioned in this subsection are limited to English. If you are multilingual, these alternatives may leave you stranded.
Grammarly
The first grammar checker I ever used other than my word processor. Why did I search for alternatives? Simply because Grammarly is only available for English grammar. I feel comfortable in English, which is my primary language for writing. But Spanish is my native language, and as you may guess, sometimes I also write texts in Spanish and Dutch. There was a time I also wrote in German. On occasions, I suggested they add other languages; but they do not seem interested.
I love it because it has a handy desktop version (as some of the others) which works when I am offline. It covers all the base features I described above. Additionally, it gives you feedback on correctness, clarity, engagement, and delivery. That is possible because, for every document, you can specify your goals.
It stores your documents in its cloud for easy retrieval. In a sense, I like it for its didactic purpose. Why? It highlights every issue in your text, and when you hover, it tells you what the fault is (but not always). It keeps you on your toes because it leaves you to guess at its hints. The more you use Grammarly, the better you grow into spotting and correcting the faults.
Hemingway Editor
I discovered this gem while doing the Creative Writing specialization. After that, I made it a point to first write my short story assignments on Grammarly. After I got it to zero suggestions in Grammarly, I copied it to Hemingway editor and ironed out whatever else is suggested.
Their web version is free with a paid desktop version recently added. Rather than underlining the issues, it highlights them according to a category: blue for adverbs, green for passive voice, light purple for phrases with a simpler alternative, yellow for hard to read, and rose for very hard to read.
Moreover, it counts your characters, letters, words, sentences, and paragraphs. It also estimates the reading time. As a bonus, it also gives you a readability assessment, for example, Grade 6 is good.
My overall impression of the Hemingway editor has been fantastic, and the features of their desktop version are great as well. Like the other checkers, it allows you to do minor formatting of your text. The only issue I found with the web version is that sometimes it scrolls up after you copy excerpts.
SPANISH Only Alternatives
I love to write in English, but it is not a universal language. Many software applications are language-centric, like those in the English section. So, if you write in Spanish, I got one alternative for you.
Lorca Editor
Lorca editor is for Spanish speakers and does an excellent job at enabling you to correct your Spanish text. It has no desktop application, only a web version that requires sign-up. The layout is very similar to Grammarly, and it stores documents on its cloud.
It uses color-coding to highlight the issues like spelling, grammar, and style in your text. It goes a bit further than Grammarly by pinpointing repeated words or words for which it suggests you use a synonym. The premium (paid) version adds extra grammar, spelling, and style checks.
The editor supports dark mode, which is easier on the eyes. The base statistics are more limited than Grammarly, but it gives you: readability score, average sentence length, the average word length, word count, sentence count, and time to read.
Language Tool powers Lorca editor’s grammar analyzer engine, which I discuss in the next section.
MULTILINGUAL Alternatives
My journey into being bilingual started in first grade when I started learning English as a second language. When I was at the university, I became interested in working in Germany, so I learned German. Destiny had other plans, and I ended up in a Dutch-speaking country; therefore, I studied Dutch. A few years ago, I decided to gain a working knowledge of Italian and Portuguese. However, when it comes to writing, I feel comfortable with #1, #2, and #4.
Language Tool
Language Tool is the newcomer in my list of grammar checkers. And to my knowledge, the only contender in the multilingual category. Like Grammarly, it has both web and desktop versions. You can indicate whether it is temporary or permanent. Temporary documents get deleted seven days after the last change, whereas permanent files get stored in the cloud.
This checker supports many human languages, even some that you wouldn’t even think of learning. For some languages, it supports local variants. Enable the Picky Mode toggle to get a better analysis of your text. It provides the same basic statistics as the other tools, including a percentage of unique words. It even warns the user if the document has several sentences beginning with the same word.
However, my only grudge against it is that the free version is limited to 1,500 words per document. When you exceed that limit, it does not analyze your text.
Putting them to the test
I use Grammarly, Hemmingway App, and Lorca Editor extensively. However, I decided to use an English excerpt of a published (undisclosed author) 1100-word short story and put it to the test. These were the results.
- Grammarly found 20 writing issues (8 spelling, 5 punctuation, 1 word choice).
- Language Tool found 9+ writing issues and 4 advanced issues (premium) in 1061 words.
- Writer found 19 issues
- Hemmingway App complained that there were 13 adverbs, 2 uses of passive voice, 3 phrases with simpler alternative, 5 hard to read sentences and 3 very hard to read sentences.
Conclusion
When it comes to written expression, there should be no compromise on the quality of your text. Remember, you will never get a second chance to give a first impression.
I was excited about Language Tool, but its 1500 word limit is a show stopper. If I am going to write in a language other than Spanish or English, that would be the only alternative.
When I prepare articles for publication in Spanish, I go for Lorca Editor. However, most of the time, I publish in English. So far, my tools of choice have been using Grammarly as a first pass, then a second pass with Hemmingway editor.
Each tool has its strengths and weaknesses. None of them will give you 100% fault-free text. In other words, none of them are the owners of the absolute truth. On occasions, the suggestion has been plain wrong.
When comparing the functionality of the free versions, Hemmingway App is the tool that offers you the most without asking anything in return.
