Why would you need a grammar checking software? Imagine receiving a business letter and you find it has a lot of spelling and grammatical errors. You would most probably think less of the sender, wouldn’t you? Be reminded, though, that more than 60 percent of all business communications have some kind of grammatical error like apostrophe errors, missing words, wrong spelling and more. Most of the times we do not have the patience and time to edit or proofread our work or, much less, other peoples work for a thorough grammar check. Enter grammar checking applications. Now, imagine what the readers of your letters, e-mail, business communications and other written material would think if 60 percent of your work had mistakes. Why would you take this chance of jeopardizing all those important documents when you could get help at reducing or eliminating errors with the two most popular grammar checking applications from Englishsoftware.org and Grammarly.com? Here, we compare, side by side, which of the two is better. ($ - means it is better, = - means even, in our opinion)
| Grammarly.com | EnglishSoftware.org |
| Monthly subscription a bit pricey | $ - One price w/ lifetime free updates |
| Slow results | $ - Instant check, checks 3000 words at a time in the blink of an eye. |
| Grammarly prompts can be overwhelming | $ - Annotates text instantly and click the annotation for more info and automatic correction. Just do a visual scan and click on the items you want to address |
| = - More thorough review and explanation but can be wordy | = - Review can be shallow and too generic |
| $ - Has automatic citation check and checks for plagiarism (but this can be overly sensitive) | No automatic citation check |
| $ - More professional, intuitive and organized website | Too heavy on marketing. Ads for add-ons and upgrades pop up every time you use it. |
| $ - Better overall result and accuracy | Behind with ‘just a little’ in terms of overall result |
| = - Too many warnings and many synonyms out of context and these can’t seem to be disabled without fully turning off the program. | = - Also had many out of context synonyms. A high percentage of its suggestions made no sense. |
| Have e-mail and phone support but no live chat and user manual. | $ - Online chat support is great and also has e-mail support. |
| Compatible with MS-Word, Outlook and PowerPoint but plug-in currently has bugs and has less all around compatibility than WhiteSmoke. | $ - Compatible MS Outlook, MS PowerPoint, MS Word, Outlook Express, Web-based mail, Notepad and almost any other text editor. |
| $ - Checks for grammatical errors using over 150 grammar rules; checks for plagiarism; Enhances vocabulary, livens-up sentences and improve readability by substituting words used with context-optimized synonyms; checks for spelling; Does not seem to recognize redundancy or duplicate words very well. | Will fix punctuation, misplaced apostrophes and commas, misuse of adverbs and adjectives, Auxiliary verb agreement, Subject-verb agreement, Adding a determiner or preposition, singular-plural, capitalization, duplicate words, wrong spelling, missing words, hyphenated words |
Conclusion:
This review is by no means a complete comparison of Englishsoftware.org's Whitesmoke and Grammarly and there are features that could be unique to one product or present in both that have not been mentioned here. Both Grammarly and WhiteSmoke as grammar checking service are indeed more advanced and have more extra features than the built-in checker in MS Office but they will not suffice if you need a more comprehensive and detailed editing for your writing and to this end, nothing beats a trained and sharp human eye. Consequently, we can say that both detect a great majority of the most common errors, including many different error types, and will help greatly in speeding up the editing process. However, it is important to understand that there are an infinite number of possible writing errors and it is impossible to detect all of them. From the side by side comparison of Grammarly and WhiteSmoke we can make conclusions on particular characteristics only as both have their own pros and cons but, ultimately, it’s all up to the individual user to decide which suits them best.
If the app you are looking to use Grammarly with has a web version (e.g. Www.slack.com), then you can try installing the Grammarly browser extension to see if it works there. Additionally, you can always copy your text to the online Grammarly Editor or Grammarly’s desktop app. Pages power point thunderbird Powerpoint Apple mail Airmail adobe. How to Install Grammarly on OneNote. Installing Grammarly for OneNote is a bit more difficult than downloading it for other apps. The first step to even getting OneNote is to download the version of Office that has OneNote. It should be noted you can just download Office or OneNote by itself without MS Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook. Find Most Popular Similar Sites like evernote.com in Category Free Software. Get organized and productive with the leading note-taking app. Download Evernote for Windows, Mac, iOS, or Android and create your free account.
Hey, hey, hey! Writing is hard. Publishing is harder. Save time with the endless scrolling & take a look at the resources that I personally use for my writing, reading and publishing. This is a list of products that I actually use. In some cases (like my email list management tool), I have tried out multiple products before landing on the perfect fit for me. Make sure to keep checking back here! The publishing landscape is always shifting and changing, and I am always looking for ways to better my writing biz.
Before we get there, a quick disclosure for you:
Some of the links below are affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase, I will earn a commission. This commission comes at no additional cost to you. Please understand that I have experience with all of these companies, and I recommend them because they are helpful and useful, not because of the small commissions I make if you decide to buy something. Please do not spend any money on these products unless you feel you need them or that they will help you achieve your goals.
Writing / editing
The good news for us writers is that the writing part of our job does not require much! Pen and paper, if you like to write on paper like I do. Or your notes app.
For the digital writing, I have found the following to be my best friends as of late:
Evernote
Evernote is for the notebook hoarders, the late night notes jotted down in your sleep, and for making sense of the nonsensical. I was late to the game with Evernote, but it has really helped to keep my writer brain in line. You can create different notebooks & use custom templates or create your own. Here are the names of a few of my notebooks:
Task List / Brain Dump: This is where the one-off ideas go, so I don’t lose them! I can then refile them into their appropriate notebook or notes page later.
Book Ideas: This is the starting place for future project ideas. I brainstorm series ideas and book titles in here.
[Title of Book] Draft: Before Evernote, I would type into my notes app if I did not have a notebook nearby. Now I can keep everything together!
Even better news? Evernote Basic is free! With my referral code, you can also get a free month of the premium plan for free.
Grammarly
Evernote And Grammarly
Once again, I was super late to the game with Grammarly. Of course, I have seen their advertisements and heard about the company from other writers, but for whatever reason, I thought I did not need it.
Then I came across a post from a professional editor [wish I had her name!] who mentioned that she recommended Grammarly as a self-editing tool for indie authors. Lightbulb! When I checked out the website, I realized that Grammarly, like Evernote, offers a free platform as well as a premium platform.
Even better, there is a plug-in for your Internet browser. So you could type your draft in Evernote, then check for grammar errors with your Grammarly plug-in. Don’t wait on this one. It will save you so much time & get your manuscript super polished.
Publishing
Now that your manuscript is nice and shiny, it is time to get that baby out to the people! If you follow this blog, you know that I prefer self-publishing. You can find my self-publishing ultimate resource guide over here. You can find the highlights below.
KDP ROCKET
If you are serious about self-publishing, the KDP Rocket is, in my opinion, essential. For my personal writing experience, it has helped me increase my KDP sales by 300%. [Yes, that is a real number! To be fair, that was during a launch month, but it is still the real deal!]
How does it work? KDP Rocket helps you write books that readers actually want to read. Crazy concept, right? This tool allows you to search for keywords that users are typing into Amazon and to find the bestselling categories for your book. You can also search for AMS keywords to create effective and amazing ads for book promotion.
TEACHABLE
I am a chronic learner. My sister and I love to share new podcasts, websites and entrepreneurs with each other. When it comes to being an author, if you want to be successful in the self-publishing space, you have to be a marketer and business owner as well. Intimidating, I know! Teachable has courses for whatever your little writer heart desires. My favorite writers & self-publishing experts are on there, making amazing content. Here are a few examples:
Joanna Penn’s Courses. I have my eye on the “Content Marketing for Fiction.” Joanna has been a favorite of mine for years, and I aways love her content. See her courses here.
Derek Murphy’s Courses. Anything by Derek Murphy is worthwhile. I have used his DIY book covers and frequently read his blog. If you check out his courses, you’ll notice that his “How to Self-Edit Your Book” course is free! See his courses here.
If you want to really set yourself apart, you can also use Teachable to become a course creator yourself!
Marketing
Now you have your book & published it, and it is time to get readers! As the Internet evolves and changes, it gets harder and harder to find organic reach for your books. I am always seeking new and better ways to market my books, and below are reliable tools that help me keep up best practices.
GET RESPONSE
To date, I have had three different providers for my email service. The first provider was inexpensive, but lacked the ability to segment my list into my readers & writers. The second provider had great functions, but it was expensive, and I was not using it to the fullest potential. GetResponse is the best of both worlds.
If you think you don’t need an email provider, let me assure you that you do. You need a way to reach your readers in a one-on-one way, and this is the key. GetResponse is easy to use and has a great drag-and-drop function for you to set up automation email sequences. Skip the headache of shopping for email providers & check out GetResponse for free, for 30 days!
How to write & Launch Your book to $10,000 in 90 DAys
Chandler Bolt, who runs the Self-Publishing School, runs a fantastic free webinar on how to find success as a self-published writer. I would not say that this is a guarantee to success, but I found it to be a really helpful tool to writing faster & publishing better.
Evernote Grammarly
Book of the month
And just for fun, because the best writers are readers, the Book of the Month club! I love this community. For a monthly subscription fee, you get a beautiful, brand-new hardcover book. And if you don’t love that month’s book options, you can skip.
Evernote And Grammarly
If you love hardcovers, but do not love the price, this is a great option for you.