Microsoft Word Grammar Checker Are No Good, Scholar Conclude

[Kire]

...and that cleared the grammar checker too. Try it, yourself.

Microsoft Word Grammar Checker Are No Good, Scholar Conclude

By BROCK READ

If you've ever used Microsoft Word, chances are you've seen that jagged green line appear beneath something you've written -- scolding you for drafting a fragmented sentence, maybe, or for slipping into the passive voice. That's Microsoft's grammar-checking technology at work.

But how much good does the grammar checker actually do? Precious little, according to Sandeep Krishnamurthy, an associate professor of marketing and e-commerce at the University of Washington. After experimenting with the tool, Mr. Krishnamurthy concluded that it cannot identify many basic grammatical faux pas -- like errors in capitalization, punctuation, and verb tense.

Now he has dedicated himself to chronicling the grammar checker's blind spots, and to persuading Microsoft to improve the tool.

On his Web site (http://faculty.washington.edu/sandeep/check), Mr. Krishnamurthy has posted evidence that he considers damning: a series of examples of poor grammar the software considers passable. One reads: "Marketing are bad for brand big and small. You Know What I am Saying? It is no wondering that advertisings are bad for company in America, Chicago and Germany."

Microsoft officials did not respond to calls for comment. But in a statement released in response to Mr. Krishnamurthy's Web site, the company argued that its grammar checker is a writing aid, not a catchall. "The Word grammar checker is designed to catch the kinds of errors that ordinary users make in normal writing situations," the statement said.

More: http://chronicle.com/temp/reprint.php?id=y0przoap7fzws5o9ez7p7vv3h95hdg6a

[MrModerate]

1. I hope it won't be considered chauvinistic . . .

But those sentences sound like bad translations from Japanese!

Yeah, I've seen the jagged green line. I turn the grammar checker off the instant I fire up a new copy of Word, along with a handful of other defaults in the program that were clearly selected by a blind monkey.

[Ian David]

2. I prefer the grammar checker on Bankstreet Writer

I keep an Apple //e on my desk just to make up for MS-Word's shortfalls.

[LiberalFighter]

3. When I use it... I use it as a tool

It spots possible problems and then it is up to me to decide what to do.

[DavidDvorkin]

4. I've always preferred my own knowledge of grammar

To that of any grammar checker.

I leave the spell checker on, though. It catches my typos.

[Jack Rabbit]

5. It's still beats me

Confession: I am a lousy speller and a lousy proofreader.

I use a later edition of Word that's doesn't shake its finger at me for using the passive voice. However, the headline still passed this Word's version of grammar check.