They say, “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover”, but most people have to admit, they judge first impressions. Whether you’re first impression is in person, or in writing, it can make or break opportunities you might have–that’s why it’s important to put forth your best effort to make the best impression the majority of the time.
Studies show that whether you’re dating, going for a job interview, writing a paper, starting a blog, or creating a professional email, you get optimal results when you use proper grammar. For many people, grammar can be the difference in their sales volume, the company they keep, and even the money they make!
If you’re here, it’s likely you relate, and you want to make a good impression, but your grammar sometimes slips thru the cracks. Maybe you don’t notice the comma you missed or the semicolon that should’ve been a period. Many people struggle with remembering all of the grammar rules, and very few people take the time to continually stay refreshed by reading about grammar or hiring an editor, and in most instances, you don’t necessarily have to–not when there’s software out there like Grammarly.
In this Grammarly review, I will give you:
- What it is
- How it works
- Pros and Cons
- What it does well and what it does not
- What others are saying (good and bad)
- My Recommendation
- And, Alternatives (in case you want to do some comparison shopping)
What is Grammarly? An Overview
Starting in 2008, Grammarly has quietly grown to be one of the most widely used self-funded products in the market. Two Ukraine natives, Alex Shevchenco and Max Lytvyn, set out to improve the way people write in 2008, and since have grown the company to where Grammarly has over 10 million downloads, 6.9 million+ daily users, and every year the revenue growth doubles! All of the success of Grammarly came from creating a piece of technology that enables users to write with less grammar and spelling errors, and the market is LOVING IT!
While you may be used to seeing punctuation editors (like Microsoft Word, Google, or WordPress built-in editors), and you might be under the impression they’re doing a sufficient job, even professional writers have found that many of their writing mistakes were slipping thru the cracks. After they’d followed the advice of their preferred word processor, there were still quite a few:
- Errors with commas
- Runon sentences
- Passive or active voice errors
- Repeated words
- Incorrect tenses
- Spelling errors
- and more!
In addition to writing in word processors, most people would admit they also write on social media, in email, in forums, or commenting on blogs, and there’s not many solutions for editting your social media snippets, emails, or comments. As a result, you type away, adding posts that go public, and potentially, give off a bad impression.
Instead, you could install a internet browser extension or subscribe for a service that will edit your writing regardless of what application you’re using: online or offline. This video gives a brief intro to what Grammarly is:
How Does Grammarly Work?
It’s likely that you chug out written words (even when you’re not fully engaged). As a result, you type content that will eventually go public without evaluating your punctuation as much as you should.
We’re all guilty of this at some time or another.
The problem is…you never know who reads what you publish and the impression it makes on them: emails, blog comments, Facebook replies, and everywhere else. With the Grammarly browser extension, Grammarly will give you spelling suggestions regardless of which website or application you’re using. These two videos can give you a visual of how it works:
Video 1:
Video 2:
How Do I Get Started with Grammarly?
Grammarly will probably be one of the easiest softwares you’ve downloaded before. To get started, you simply:
1. Visit the Grammarly Website
You can VISIT THE GRAMMARLY WEBSITE HERE to get started.
2. Download the Internet Browser Extension
Once you’re on the Grammarly website, you’ll need to DOWNLOAD THE BROWSER EXTENSION.
3. Watch How it Improves Your Writing
The free software will correct errors when you’re writing and give suggestions that will help improve your writing.
4. Decide if You Want to Upgrade for More (Beyond Basic Punctuation and Spelling) Edits
Upgrading to the paid plan gives you access to a deeper set of features including grammar and plagiarism checks, as well as contextual advice to improve your writing.
Who is Grammarly For?
Grammarly is for:
- Students or those who write papers
- Teachers and Professors who want to check for grammar and plagiarism
- Professional writers
- Those who are job hunting
- Businessmen and Businesswomen
- Professionals
- Editors
- Those who are dating and coordinating alot in writing
- All those who write and want to catch their mistakes before others do
Grammarly Tools & Training
Grammarly is fairly easy to use, so there’s not much tools and training required, but they do offer a virtual tour for new users to help you learn how to navigate the interface.
Grammarly Support
For support, Grammarly has a knowledge base and a contact form where you’ll recieve email responses.
What Does Grammarly Do Well
- 15 million+ people use Grammarly
- 34,000+ Chrome store reviews with an average of 5-stars
- It can be used on any site in any application: online or offline
- It checks grammar, punctuation, style, and tone
- It gives helpful writing suggestions that can help your writing improve
What Doesn’t Grammarly Do Well
- If you intend to use slang in your writing, Grammarly will need to be personalized quite a bit to accommodate for that
- Some users complained that they forgot about their subscription until that were billed. They may not have updated their contact information, or Grammarly may need to improve how they invoice customers prior to annual billing
- It doesn’t offer many alternatives to passive voice corrections
- Some users complain of compatibility issues with Google Docs
- Some users complain that Grammarly had annoying advertisements
Grammarly Review Roundup
There’s a big discrepancy online because Google has 34,000+ reviewers with an average 5-star rating, and TrustPilot has 104 ratings and 41% are negative. Which accurately reflects what customers really feel about Grammarly? I’d think that with the number of downloads, with lots of positive video reviews (with walk-thrus) and 34,000 positive reviews on Google, the complaints on Trustpilot are only a drop in the bucket, but I’ll share some reviews that are good and some that are bad, so you can evaluate for yourself.
A Helpful Video Review and Walthru
Grammarly Alternatives
If you’d like to look into alternatives to improve your spelling and punctuation, these are some of my top recommendations:
Fiverr
At Fiverr, you can hire freelancers to look over your text and have them edit it for you. To learn more about Fiverr, you can check out my full review here or visit Fiverr here.
GSuite
Gsuite has punctuation and grammar checkers. Many people have found it useful to use GSuite’s internal grammar checker and Grammarly, but you can evaluate which process works best for you. You can check out my full GSuite review here or visit the GSuite website here.
Grammarly | Grammar Editting Software
Pros
- Gives helpful grammar and punctuation suggestions
- Helps to check for Plagiarism
- 10 million+ downloads and 34,000 reviews with an average 5-star rating
- Affordable
- Easy to use
Cons
- Bad reviews about the software not storing content backups
- Some customers find the suggestions annoying
- You'll need to set up the personalization if you intend to use slang or an unfamiliar dialect, and it can take more time to get setup
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