Grammarly and PerfectIt

We all know about spell-check and why it matters to use it when writing documents, especially work correspondence and reports. But newer, more advanced programs go far beyond spell-check. Here are two of my favourites.  

Grammarly: This phenomenal program goes well beyond Microsoft’s basic spell-check for detecting spelling, grammar, punctuation, and usage problems. It can also flag repetitive words, vague or weak language, and potentially inappropriate word choices.   

Sometimes it can even figure out what you meant when you used the wrong word. For example, one of my authors intended to write about reminiscing about the good old days but used remiss instead. Grammarly caught it and suggested a more appropriate word. It won’t catch every word-choice error, of course, but I’ve seen it catch some impressive ones.

Grammarly can also flag language that may sound too informal, dated, insensitive, or inappropriate for the intended audience. It may suggest alternatives for terms such as mankind or elderly, depending on the context and your settings.

It is also useful for catching punctuation errors, but keep in mind that Grammarly doesn't replace a professional style guide such as The Chicago Manual of Style. And Grammarly’s recommendations are just that—recommendations. You don’t have to accept every one. I take its suggestions cafeteria-style: I choose the ones I like and leave the rest behind.

PerfectIt: I could not live without this program! Whereas Grammarly focuses largely on correctness and improving individual sentences, PerfectIt excels at something different: consistency.

Did you hyphenate brand-new in two instances but not the third? Did you capitalize City of Chicago four times but leave it lowercase twice? PerfectIt to the rescue. This is particularly useful for long documents, novels, and nonfiction books, where you can’t trust yourself to remember every single hyphen, capital, abbreviation, or spelling choice you made 200 pages ago. PerfectIt makes you look like a real pro with a terrific memory and a great eye for detail. You don’t have to tell anyone that you had help!

PerfectIt can also flag many commonly confused words, unwanted phrases, spelling variations, and other potential problems, although, like Grammarly, it can't catch everything. It is particularly good at finding inconsistencies within the same document.

This is especially useful when working with different varieties of English. I grew up in the US school system, and I’ve had many American editing clients. Americans generally use spellings such as honor and neighbor, whereas Canadians use honour and neighbour. Canadian writing can be particularly tricky because it combines elements of American and British English, and writers sometimes mix spelling conventions without realizing it. PerfectIt can catch many of these inconsistencies and help you apply your chosen spelling style throughout a document.

Another terrific feature is the ability to create your own style sheet. You can tell PerfectIt which spellings, hyphenations, capitalization, abbreviations, punctuation conventions, and other preferences you want it to look for. You can also tell it which terms to ignore. This is especially helpful for a book or other long project where you want the same editorial decisions applied from beginning to end.

PerfectIt can also help you enforce preferences such as toward rather than towards or amid rather than amidst. These aren’t necessarily errors—the preferred form can depend on your style and variety of English—but once you’ve made a choice, PerfectIt can help you stick with it.

And PerfectIt sometimes catches embarrassing little things that the human eye sails right past, such as pubic when the author meant public. Trust me, that is one typo you would rather catch before publication!

The simplest way to remember the difference is this: Grammarly primarily checks whether your writing is correct and effective; PerfectIt primarily checks whether your editorial choices are consistent. They overlap in some areas, but they do different jobs, which is why I use both.

Grammarly and PerfectIt are terrific tools for writers who want polished, professional material. But don’t forget about Microsoft’s spell-check. It is still worth spell-checking everything that leaves your desk for business, starting with emails and moving on to reports, proposals, short stories, and full-length books.

You can use these programs for social correspondence, too, if you really want to step up your game, but I usually skip them when I’m writing to friends. After all, I need some time off duty!

So do you.