Sunday, November 24, 2019
The Problem with Grammar Check
The Problem with Grammar Check The Problem with Grammar Check The Problem with Grammar Check By Mark Nichol A couple of years ago, a visitor to this site posted a comment asking for help. In a Word document, this person had written the sentence ââ¬Å"The nouns and verbs are the main content words in this poem and without emphasis on them, this poem has little to no meaning.â⬠Wordââ¬â¢s grammar check admonished the writer to insert a semicolon in place of the comma following them. What? Errant nonsense, and puzzling advice, at that. One respondent erroneously agreed with Bill Gates, while two people associated with this site validated the original writerââ¬â¢s reluctance to follow Wordââ¬â¢s word. But they didnââ¬â¢t explain why the grammar check had recommended this faulty course of action. I didnââ¬â¢t understand it, either, but then I looked a little closer. As another poster remarked, a human editor trumps a computer-generated one. Computers may be able to defeat humans at chess, but I doubt theyââ¬â¢ll ever beat people at editing. Why? They can compute, but they canââ¬â¢t think. Hereââ¬â¢s where Word went wrong: It assumed that the phrase ââ¬Å"in this poem and without emphasis on themâ⬠was a compound phrase with the same structure as ââ¬Å"on this page and on the next,â⬠for example, and that this sentence could end with this phrase. If that were true, ââ¬Å"this poem has little to no meaningâ⬠would be an independent clause that could stand on its own. But because the computer misread the context, it did not admonish the writer to correct a real error: A comma should follow the first instance of poem. The correct form of the sentence is ââ¬Å"The nouns and verbs are the main content words in this poem, and without emphasis on them, this poem has little to no meaning.â⬠(I also agree with the poster who pointed out that the phrase at the end of the sentence is more idiomatically correct rendered as ââ¬Å"little or no meaning.â⬠) In this sentence ââ¬Å"this poem has little to no meaningâ⬠is not an independent clause, but it is part of one: ââ¬Å"without emphasis on them, this poem has little to no meaningâ⬠could stand as a separate sentence, so it should be preceded by a comma and the conjunction and.â⬠The moral of the story? Wordââ¬â¢s grammar check, like its spell-check function, can be helpful, but it can also misinterpret your intent as a writer. As the sage says, ââ¬Å"Trust, but verify.â⬠Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Comparative Forms of Adjectives"Certified" and "Certificated"Ulterior and Alterior
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