An Author's Take on Grammarly vs. ProWritingAid

[@johnvanslykejr.8033]

One thing to consider is running your “finished” text through a text to speech processor. This lets you hear how what you have written sounds, including its flow.

[@BlaizeStewart]

That's how I do my edits. It's so effective!

[@wearebodybeautiful]

Thank you for this review, it's very helpful to see both tools in action with real writing examples. I'm leaning towards ProWritingAid, but will probably end up with the two premium subscriptions...

[@NamiHeartnet]

This was a very good review. I have been trying to think of which one I should use for writing stories, I like grammarly but also prowritingaid seems more in depth. I'm still an amateur in my opinion so I don't want many mistakes. But, your review helped me out a little more.

[@BlaizeStewart]

Glad it was helpful. I like both for different reasons.

[@Blox--]

Thank you for this video it gives complete insight of both the apps

[@BlaizeStewart]

You're welcome :)

[@tralbe]

I have to say this was very helpful. Thank you for putting this video together! I write Chapter Books and Middle Grade novels. I'm curious how well this will work for fiction that is focused on Kids.

[@BlaizeStewart]

Certainly can help. I think both can simplify your writing if you set the goals accordingly. The reports will also show you reading levels.

[@comsy]

wow, this video is helpful because i'm in the middle of writing a book and i need some help(with grammar and stuff)

[@ash-adventurediaries]

thank you thank you thank you!:)

[@BlaizeStewart]

Glad it was helpful!

[@GrubbJunker]

What about my specific case? I'm not an author or even a native English speaker. My job is Translation (English -> Portuguese), but I try proofreadeading the scripts I'm given. These scripts are comprised almost in their entirety by dialogue. Either that or short narrator interjections. To make matters worse, the scripts are for dialogue-heavy games with multiple options (and story paths), so many lines either repat themselves (which would trip stuff like ProWritingAid's 'Overused' functionality), or have versions with minor differences based on the choice taken. So my problem then is I'm not sure if either ProWritingAid or Grammarly are the right tools. Not only that, tools like grammarly don't want you to EVER use passive voice. Ever. There's also the fact that ProWritingAid will simply never tell you to place a comma between two independent clauses, while Grammarly will always tell you to use the Oxford Comma. On top of that, I can't afford to buy either, which means I have to rely on the free versions. I'm given the scripts as text files, so I use notepad++ with DSpellCheck for spelling. But of course, it only helps with basic spelling. No major help with grammar, tone, readability, etc. I'm really unsure what to do. All I want is to improve and help more proofreading these lines and I don't know what tool would help me with these individual lines of dialogue.

[@BlaizeStewart]

Grammarly has a free tier. These tools are not fool proof. You don't have to accept the suggestion. Passive voice is not evil, but it is over used. Grammarly and Prowritingaid. If you like free, Google Docs has an integrated grammar checker. It's not great, but it helps. No tool will replace a person... Not yet at least. So for now, the best thing to do is just get better at proofreading. I suck at it as an author, but I'm learning.

[@GrubbJunker]

@@BlaizeStewart Yeah, I do understand Grammarly has a Free tier, which is what I tried using. The problem with the free tier is that most (what it considers) errors will be behind the paywall. So might as well not even use it. For instance: if the line I'm given has an "and" separating two independent clauses, Grammarly will tell me something's wrong but will not say what, as that is behind the paywall. So I have to use my own knowledge to figure out "Ah, so these are independent clauses and thus require a comma". Normally, that would be fine. But as a non-native English speaker, I lack the confidence to just go with what I feel is best. Thank you for your swift reply on an old video. =)

[@2murie]

Can you explain why you used online Grammarly instead of MS Word?

[@BlaizeStewart]

At the time, the online app has more features

[@2murie]

thank you@@BlaizeStewart

[@DarthShadie]

Very informative. There are things about Grammarly that drive me nuts. I will have to try Pro Writing Aid. Do you have anything about the Hemmingway app? I am thinking of using it more but am unsure how effective it can be, only have used it a few times a while back.

[@BlaizeStewart]

I've never used it. In fact, recently, I started to use chat ChatGPT to do many of the functions both of those apps do. It's pretty amazing l.

[@DarthShadie]

@@BlaizeStewart Thanks for the reply. Asking GPT for synonyms can be helpful, but when rephrasing it is not. I find it throws at me word salads, trying too hard. Thanks to this vid I started using PWA though. It takes more time, nut seems more effective. It highlights things and I'm like, wait, I can totally rephrase/change that to be better. So far I am liking it (trying out the free version).

[@BlaizeStewart]

@@DarthShadie with some tuning, ChatGPT can give back better results. You kind of have to guide it at first, but once it understands what your looking for, it works great

[@DarthShadie]

@@BlaizeStewart Thanks for the tip.

[@lakeshagadson357]

grammer is about writing