Chapter Thirteen: “Editing Sentences”

The following resources enhance the editing advice given in the chapter and have the advantage of marking your text for a wide range of possible errors in syntax (grammar), punctuation, and spelling. Remember that these functions give only editing advice, not overall writing advice. Do not try to use them as a substitute for any other phase of the writing process. That’s not how they work.

• Grammar and spelling checkers in Microsoft Word

For Word users, these services are built in, though you have the option of using them or not. They are most useful for alerting you to possible problems in your sentences, but always make sure that they have indeed identified an error. They are far from infallible, and you should not let them bully you into making changes where you do not think changes are needed.

• Grammarly.com https://www.grammarly.com/

Grammarly comes in both free and “premium” (paid) versions, with the second much more powerful than the first, though the free version is much more sophisticated than the grammar and spelling checkers in Word. Grammarly is not available for Macs. The big advantage of Grammarly over the Word built-ins is that it gives you many options for alternative words and phrasings—and it explains the reasons why it has marked a concern. Again, remember that these are editing tools only. None of these tools substitutes for any other phase of the reading-writing process.