Grammarly: Saving the Internet One Word at a Time
Julia Domenicucci ’15 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer
No matter how precise your grammar, everyone makes mistakes. The relatively new app Grammarly (https://www.grammarly.com/) sets out to correct those errors in your emails, social media, and documents. With a catchy tagline (“Write better, right now.”), a quick installation, and both free and paid options, Grammarly is a fun and accessible way to ensure your writing is as correct as possible.
Grammarly was founded in 2008 by Alex Shevchenko and Max Lytvyn, but the app itself (Grammarly® Editor) wasn’t released until 2009. Since then, the company has added free tools (including a grammar handbook, a question-and-answer forum, and a thesaurus). The app has also won three notable awards and received endorsements from many celebrities and business owners.
The homepage is a little misleading, however. Sign up certainly is free, which may explain the four million registered users. But the free version only offers corrections on 100 grammatical errors, as opposed to the over 250 available for Grammarly Premium customers. Additionally, those who opt to pay also have access to the Microsoft Office add-in, personal style checks, sentence structure evaluation, and plagiarism checks, among other things.
For users who are particularly busy or less grammatically-savvy the free version of Grammarly will be helpful, but for those with a good working knowledge of grammar and spelling it may only serve as a proofreader. It also cannot edit for particular style guides that a user may need to apply to emails or social media (for example, if a company uses non-traditional abbreviations). Still, installation is simple and the little “G” icon quietly spins as it checks each Tweet, Facebook status, or email. The app is inconspicuous. In the free version at least, the most useful features are the explanations for suggested corrections and the word counter.
When an “advanced issue” (such as hyphens/dashes or that/which clauses) is found, the app prompts the user to the paywall, where monthly, quarterly, and annual subscriptions are offered. The annual plan is the cheapest, which averages out to $14.58/month—quarterly averages to $24.68/month and the monthly price is steepest at $37.95/month. (At time of writing, for this week only, the company is offering 20% off of all plans.)
The applications for Grammarly Premium are many. Small business owners may be able to have a smaller staff, while larger companies can ensure clarity in everything from internal memos to posts on social media. It would also make a great gift for a student who struggles with grammar or for anyone worried about plagiarism.
Grammarly is not a substitute for editing and proofing with human eyes, especially on important documents or emails. Yet the app, even just the free version, will make minor tasks easier—instead of double-checking your latest Tweet, sit back and let Grammarly do it for you!