Does anyone use Grammarly?

[woody649]

Grammarly is a writing style and grammar checker. I guess it is also supposed to check spelling. There is a basic version that's free, and a paid version that adds more functions. I have seen glowing recommendations for it on authors' forums. I have a friend in Europe for whom English is a second (or third) language. He's very fluent, but his English is British English -- he attended university in England -- and he currently writes for a magazine/blog site whose primary audience is the United States. He uses Grammarly, and he has mentioned that he gets fewer complaints about his grammar and syntax since he started using it.

So I decided to try it. Multiple references to Grammarrly indicated that there is a free-standing, desktop version available. That's what I wanted; I don't need or want something lurking in memory, peering over my shoulder whenever I fire up a browser or open Microsoft Word. What I got was just what I didn't want: a resident app that's always running in the background, peering over my shoulder whenever I fire up a browser or open Microsoft Word.

So I uninstalled Grammarly, and in the dialogue box where they asked why I uninstalled it -- I told them.

Today I received an e-mail from Grammarly customer support, kindly informing me that, yes, there is indeed a freestanding desktop app, and providing me a link from which to download it. So I downloaded it and installed it, and immediately found a Grammarly icon popping up in my browser window. I started Word, opened a manuscript file, and found Grammarly lurking there, too.

The customer service guy sent me three links. One was supposed to be for a "freestanding desktop" version, another was supposed to be for the version that runs as a browser and Word extension. Turns out both links lead to downloading the exact same file.

I am not a happy camper. I don't like being lied to. I have [again] uninstalled Grammarly. I'm looking for alternatives, if anyone knows of any.