I've turned mine off. When I see an error I'm compelled to correct it then and there. It's distracting. I'm just wondering if anyone can work with these on. Why I don't know. 
Grammar & Spelling Flags in Word Off or On?
- Thread starter RumpleTumbler
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I leave mine on because it catches stupid little keyboarding errors, but I ignore it a lot of the time because it is wrong so often.
spell check on, grammer off. I can barely spell my own name so if I turn it off it is a disaster. But i find the grammer check to be annoying. I find myself obsessively trying to please the grammer god of Word rather than writing!
I leave both on while I write, and, no, I don't find them distracting. What I find distracting is wondering whether I've just made a mistake. If Word flags something, I make the decision there and then to either leave it or change it, and then I move on. Editing and rewriting go much more smoothly the fewer errors I have in first draft. Stopping for a moment to correct something doesn't bother me. I have the scene I'm writing in my head and it's not going anywhere. It'll still get written, after I make the correction.
The problem with grammar check is that it often proposes changes that are either worded miserably, to try and conform with a rule, or destructive to the creative process (well, my creative process, anyway).
However, I'm an English teacher, so I'm well aware of grammar rules and know when I'm breaking them. For people who are not, leaving grammar check on might be helpful. I ignore it.
Spellcheck, though, stays on for me. Too many typos.
However, I'm an English teacher, so I'm well aware of grammar rules and know when I'm breaking them. For people who are not, leaving grammar check on might be helpful. I ignore it.
Spellcheck, though, stays on for me. Too many typos.
Both spell check and grammar off.
I'll run them on a finished piece to see what it catches, but I still find printing out and proofreading a better alternative because, spell check doesn't catch words that are spelled correctly but not used in the correct context.
BTW... I did have to smile when I read the thread title.
I'll run them on a finished piece to see what it catches, but I still find printing out and proofreading a better alternative because, spell check doesn't catch words that are spelled correctly but not used in the correct context.
BTW... I did have to smile when I read the thread title.
I leave it on and pay attention to the reds (which highlight typos; I know how to spell, thank you) and ignore the greens. There are often many granmatical errors in speech and I leave those in, as people don't speak in perfect English, at least not in my books).
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I leave it on. I fix the reds as they pop up. I don't find that distracting, it's just the way I've always worked. It's a leftover habit from the days of manual typewriters where if you didn't correct the spelling error as soon as you saw it by backspacing and using correction tape, you'd end up having to try to reinsert the whole page and then try to match up the lines so the word isn't out of place.
Leave spellcheck on, turn off grammar check. Too often Word wants you to fix things that aren't wrong (like forms of there and adding apostrophes to any 's' it sees).
I leave both on, much like Carogirl. I will sometimes pause and make the correction immediately, if needed. If I'm really 'in the zone', as they say, I will finish what I'm doing then go back and check the red and green flags. The red ones are usually pretty accurate. If the word's one of my 'made up ones', I just add it to the dictionary. The grammar check isn't always right for me so it gets ignored a lot. Except when it catches having too many spaces between words. That's helpful.
I have two kids and a telephone. That's distraction. Spell and grammar check are just squiggly lines under some text.
I love the way Word spellcheck flags coined words and phrases. Potmosphere. Herbal recreationals. Manconcentrate. Bogarting. Granddogs. F*cksake. Nowheresville. Vedder-whipped. Craptastic. Shlub. Stalkerish.
Happiness is pissing Word off.
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I always leave spell-check on, but right now I have grammar turned off. When I used to write a lot of essays and term papers, I would leave the grammar checker on too, because it was usually correct in that situation, and also pretty good about showing an error if I missed a word in a sentence or something stupid like that. For fiction though, I hate it. I spell decently well, so I don't usually run into the red mark-ups. However, I do use a lot fragments, particularly in dialogue, so I wind up with green splashed everywhere.
In terms of distraction, I don't really notice the spell-checker anymore. The first time I ran into the checkers was my freshman year in college, in the computer labs, and it took me a while to get used to them. My mom always turns those functions off because they drive her crazy, so I'd never seen them in action. Because it was the computer lab, we weren't allowed to change the settings, so I just got used to it. Now, I don't really notice. If I see that I've misspelled something, I'll just go back and correct it quickly.
In terms of distraction, I don't really notice the spell-checker anymore. The first time I ran into the checkers was my freshman year in college, in the computer labs, and it took me a while to get used to them. My mom always turns those functions off because they drive her crazy, so I'd never seen them in action. Because it was the computer lab, we weren't allowed to change the settings, so I just got used to it. Now, I don't really notice. If I see that I've misspelled something, I'll just go back and correct it quickly.
Spell check on, grammar check off. I like knowing if I made a typo and fixing it immediately. I never use the grammar check function, even at the end of the work.
On
I leave both turned on. Typos and errors distract me even more when I think I'm not catching them as I go. Grammar check isn't really good for many things, it it can catch some typos that spellcheck misses.
I suppose I'd turn both off if they were flagging me in every sentence, but I'm a pretty good speller, and I'm pretty good at grammar, so I use them primarily for typos.
I leave both turned on. Typos and errors distract me even more when I think I'm not catching them as I go. Grammar check isn't really good for many things, it it can catch some typos that spellcheck misses.
I suppose I'd turn both off if they were flagging me in every sentence, but I'm a pretty good speller, and I'm pretty good at grammar, so I use them primarily for typos.
Never use a grammar checker
Sometimes I turn spellcheck off, and sometimes I leave it on. But I NEVER use grammar checkers, because they are unreliable.
Fifteen years ago columnist Mike Royko wrote a wonderful column about his computer vs. the Gettysburg Address. His computer thought the Address was poorly written. His computer was stupid, and Royko said so.
I just now tried the same thing, and MY computer is stupid. It totally missed several minor comma errors, caught two minor mistakes that are merely a matter of style changes over time, and flagged a dozen or so major "errors" where Lincoln was right and the computer was WRONG.
Grammar checkers are absolutely not to be trusted.
Here is the text of the speech, in case you want to try the same experiment on your own computers:
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate – we can not consecrate – we can not hallow – this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.
The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us – that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion – that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain – that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Sometimes I turn spellcheck off, and sometimes I leave it on. But I NEVER use grammar checkers, because they are unreliable.
Fifteen years ago columnist Mike Royko wrote a wonderful column about his computer vs. the Gettysburg Address. His computer thought the Address was poorly written. His computer was stupid, and Royko said so.
I just now tried the same thing, and MY computer is stupid. It totally missed several minor comma errors, caught two minor mistakes that are merely a matter of style changes over time, and flagged a dozen or so major "errors" where Lincoln was right and the computer was WRONG.
Grammar checkers are absolutely not to be trusted.
Here is the text of the speech, in case you want to try the same experiment on your own computers:
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate – we can not consecrate – we can not hallow – this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.
The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us – that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion – that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain – that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
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I use Works, not Word. The spell-check is always on, but it usually only bothers me when I make up a word or a name that isn't added to my dictionary.
I don't think Works has an option to leave grammar check on while I'm writing. I wouldn't want it to, anyway. Last night I was going through the grammar check and Ignoring item after item. It wanted me to turn most of my contractions into long form, and hated my use of fragments. I gave up after about ten minutes.
I don't think Works has an option to leave grammar check on while I'm writing. I wouldn't want it to, anyway. Last night I was going through the grammar check and Ignoring item after item. It wanted me to turn most of my contractions into long form, and hated my use of fragments. I gave up after about ten minutes.
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I have no use for either one. The tendency for the grammar check to flag perfectly good grammar just makes me insane, as does spell check's inability to deal with plurals of words that I've already added to the dictionary.
I turn them both off until I'm at the point of letting someone else see whatever it is I'm working on.
I turn them both off until I'm at the point of letting someone else see whatever it is I'm working on.
Off, off, off.
When we write in my classes, I instruct my students to turn them off as well.
There's no need for anything to be happening to your text as you write.
Forward. Always go forward.
Personally, I would rather a phone be ringing in the other room than something be happening to my text as I type it.
When we write in my classes, I instruct my students to turn them off as well.
There's no need for anything to be happening to your text as you write.
Forward. Always go forward.
Personally, I would rather a phone be ringing in the other room than something be happening to my text as I type it.
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I turn them both off, but run a spellcheck before I finish up for the day. The grammar check is more trouble than it's worth. If I'm really uncertain about something, I'll look it up.
I have the underlines turned off while I write, but then I check the whole thing with grammar and spell checker at the end. I use the options feature so that the grammar checker flags things like passive voice. Sometimes it creeps in when I don't want it; sometimes it is what I want, but it never hurts to reconsider whether it is appropriate. I find that the grammar checker also catches things like occasional subject-verb disagreements or tense changes within a sentence that creep in during with rapid first-draft writing. I often miss these because I know what I intended to write. I figure it never hurts to have the spelling/grammar checker question certain things, but I'm a big girl who knows the rules of grammar and feel comfortable ignoring the suggestions. If you're so insecure that you feel you have to accept all the grammar checker suggestions, you probably need a grammar review.
I also strongly recommend spell checking your outgoing e-mail, especially if you want to make a good first impression on an editor.
I also strongly recommend spell checking your outgoing e-mail, especially if you want to make a good first impression on an editor.
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