Editing and Editing Software:

The Importance of Becoming a More Independent Writer 

 

Many people, both native speakers as well as those who have recently come to English as a language, use grammar correction software to edit their writing.  Is this sufficient to ensure that what you’ve written is written correctly?  What role should grammar editing software play in your writing? 

At Software for Students, we did a casual study.  We went to each chapter our student workbook and took sentences that had a cross-section of errors in them; we then looked to see how many times a widely used word processing software identified the presence of an error.  We were quite surprised, and would like to share those results with you. 

For example, in the Verbs chapter, we took 100 sentences with verb errors (and this included subject-verb agreement, verb form, modals, etc.).  Of these, only 36 errors were identified and edited by the computer’s grammar editing software correctly!   The computer was not able to identify as incorrect any sentences in which the writer used the wrong verb tense for the context. 

From the Adjectives and Adverbs chapter, of the first 40 errors that we subjected to the grammar editor (and these included adjective and adverb form, noun/adjective word order, etc.), only eight errors were identified and given correct alternatives.  One sentence was even given an incorrect alternative. 

The Punctuation and the Sentence Structure chapters were even less encouraging!  Of the 62 Punctuation sentences we chose (including “run-ons”, sentence fragments, sentences with faulty use of commas), the computer picked up five as certain errors and three as possible errors but offered no solutions.  Of the 47 sentences from the Sentence Structure chapter that we entered, none were correctly identified as having an error, and one sentence was identified as having an error but was given an incorrect solution! 

What does this mean for you? 

This means that the computer is letting most (anywhere from 60% – 100%, depending on the type of error) of your grammar, punctuation and sentence structure errors slip through!  This also means that if you thought that you could rely on grammar editing software, you may be putting your professional and educational success at risk.  A résumé with even one serious error can sometimes eliminate a person from consideration for a job position he seeks. 

On the other hand, this also means that you are smart to be doing what you are doing – learning to improve your grammar and your editing skills, and making the decision to become a more independent and resourceful writer of English. 

A grammar editing software program is a good and helpful aid, but if it will not remove the obstacles to good writing, nor will it make you a good writer or fluent with English.  By using Easy Writer, the Grammar Help! Student Handbook and other resources available to you, you will become a more resourceful, independent and successful writer.  Then your language skills will help and not hinder you in the the pursuit of your academic and career goals.