Reality Check Grammarly terms of service

[Carol Rose]

Comprehensive source to explain comma usage. I also put this in the thread about spaces, commas, punctuating dialogue, and formatting manuscripts in the Writing Wiki Forum.

Rules for Comma Usage

 

[Rich.]

One resource I've always found useful for grammar-related malarkey is Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips (don't be put off by the name!). Straightforward, practical advice. Worth a look.

 

[Paul Whybrow]

When I'm lost in the editing jungle, where the manuscript of my lovingly-crafted story starts to resemble a hateful, intractable object, and I feel like I'm trying to clean millions of barnacles off the hull of a battleship with a nail file, I find that I begin to mentally correct the punctuation and word choice of people I'm talking to!

I see their conversation floating in speech bubbles, and, as they pause to think of someone's name, I try to decide if that should be an em-dash or an ellipsis. Writers are weird (that's my excuse, anyway).

 

[Howard]

One resource I've always found useful for grammar-related malarkey is Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips (don't be put off by the name!). Straightforward, practical advice. Worth a look.

Always my go-to site when, at 3AM, after writing 10,000 words, my brain collapses and I forget how verbs work.

 

[Paul Whybrow]

Since signing up to ProWritingAid, I've received notifications from them, including a special offer for a free PDF download of a guide called 20 Editing Tips from Professional Writers, written by Chris Banks (founder of ProWritingAid) and Lisa Lepki (editor of their blog).

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Take-Your-...16359257&sr=1-1&refinements=p_27:Chris++Banks

This offer is available until the end of January, and it's well worth downloading, for it's a concise and useful guide to some of the puzzling issues about writing technique we've discussed on the Colony. With 20 tips in 25 pages, it's one of the best writing guides I've seen, though you do have to join the site to access it.

 

[Robinne Weiss]

Indeed, what @Carol Rose said. I've had editors add commas, and I've had other editors remove them from the same places. I now use the editors who like them in the same places I do. It saves everyone a lot of grief.

 

[Island Writer]

As an editor, I have found Grammar for People Who Hate Rules by Kathleen Watson a useful resource.

 

[Amber]

I'd like to see them try.

 

[brendancody]

As a side project in my free time (!), I'm actually working on an editing service that connects writers and editors - you know, real humans!
I remember when Grammarly started out they used Amazon's Mechanical Turk to have people edit the content. Their business model changed to instant editing. I would never use Grammarly, not only because of the poor functionality of the automated grammar checking, but for another more suspicious reason. In a post-Snowden world, their sudden pivot into hoovering up everything the world was typing, in real-time, and on any browser seemed a little ... sinister.

 

[Howard]

As a side project in my free time (!), I'm actually working on an editing service that connects writers and editors - you know, real humans!
I remember when Grammarly started out they used Amazon's Mechanical Turk to have people edit the content. Their business model changed to instant editing. I would never use Grammarly, not only because of the poor functionality of the automated grammar checking, but for another more suspicious reason. In a post-Snowden world, their sudden pivot into hoovering up everything the world was typing, in real-time, and on any browser seemed a little ... sinister.

Agreed. Sinister is the word.
Let us know how you progress with your project. That could be of real use!