How Grammarly Can Help You Write Better

Everybody dreams of writing mistake-free. And this is exactly what Grammarly helps you do! Let’s see how it works.

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Grammarly: History of Creation and Main Features

Quite a few people, from high school and college students to social media users, need to write mistake-free. In fact, having excellent English writing skills is an absolute must for everybody these days. And while acquiring speaking skills is something that can be done in a matter of several months (e.g. by attending English language courses), written communication takes years to achieve perfection. And even people with years of writing experience can make grammar and spelling errors from time to time.

Fortunately, technology constantly moves on, causing multiple proofreading services to spring up all the time. And Grammarly is one of them. As of now, the Grammarly application has been downloaded more than ten million times, while the startup itself has attracted seven million daily active users (DAU). When it comes to the number of users and revenue, the two key metrics measuring the success of any business, they increase twofold every year.

Let’s find out more about the service and some of its features which may not be so apparent to first-time users.

History of Development

Grammarly is one of the most successful Internet startups that did not attract any investors during its formative stages. Alex Shevchenko and Max Lytvyn, the two men behind it, are graduates of the International Christian University (Kyiv, Ukraine). Back in 2000, they noticed that quite a few of their fellow students who downloaded texts from the Internet needed to make sure they were authentic. So, they decided to create a piece of software that would check texts for plagiarism. Called My Dropbox, the program quickly became very popular among students from all over the world.

A few years later, the young men sold their project to Blackboard, one of the leaders in the field of online education. After that, Max and Alex started to work on a new product - an online service that would correct grammar and spelling errors in texts. And that’s how Grammarly came into being in 2008.

Like any other language, English is governed by rules, so the concept behind Grammarly wasn’t a particularly groundbreaking one. Initially, the application looked like a simple web editor users could copy and paste texts into. But unlike other similar services which highlighted only obvious spelling and grammar errors, Grammarly covered other essential aspects that ranged from contextual spelling to stylistics.

Before switching to a freemium model, Alex and Max decided to focus on a potentially profitable niche in the field of education. At the initial stages of product development, the main problem they faced was creating an algorithm that would be smart enough to recognize errors in English texts. In fact, coming up with one required a lot of time and money. However, the developers’ goal was to focus on seeking a solution and not attracting investment.

So, what they ended up doing was asking Grammarly users for their feedback. The multiple suggestions they’d received enabled them to quickly improve their service. Now, this proofreading tool uses complex machine learning algorithms that allow it to provide authors of various texts with billions of recommendations every month.

In 2017, the company, for the first time in its history, succeeded in attracting $110 million from a group of investors headed by General Catalyst Enterprise. So, what do Grammarly creators owe their success to? It’s pretty easy - they help people communicate more intelligently by eliminating writing mistakes.

What Grammarly Can Offer You

Grammarly is an awesome service that allows its users to check texts for spelling and grammar mistakes. The idea behind is quite simple: it helps you write your emails, articles, and posts on social networks error-free. It is particularly useful to students constantly tormented with the ‘Who could write my case study?’ question.

What makes Grammarly unique is that it is capable of detecting the most subtle and hard-to-spot mistakes. This fact alone helps it stand head and shoulders above other word processors. Despite having spell-checking functionality, they are unable to provide their users with grammatically and stylistically flawless texts.

The latest beta version of the service allows for text verification in Google Docs, an option which was previously available only for premium subscribers. To use it, you need to install the Grammarly extension in your Chrome browser (other browsers are not yet supported). After a message about the availability of the beta version pops up in Google Docs, you will see the Grammarly logo in the lower right-hand corner of your document. Once it shows up there, you can start using the service’s full functionality.

Free Version

The basic version is free – you only need to register on the Grammarly website. The service is capable of detecting more than 250 types of grammar errors and can also help you understand how to avoid them in the future.

The free version finds basic mistakes, such as missing or extra articles, incorrectly used words (e.g. as “write”/”right,” “affect”/”effect,” etc), and misspelled endings (e.g. “s,” “it's” or “its”) among others. It shows you where commas are missing and where they are not needed. More complex errors, such as using adjectives instead of adverbs (e.g. “good” vs “well”) are detected as well.

For each mistake, correction options are available, and you can either accept or reject them. You can also see a brief grammar reference that explains why a particular correction is suggested. In this way, you can not only check your text for errors but also improve your general knowledge of English grammar.

Grammarly provides convenient storage for documents which is very simple to use. One of its greatest advantages is that you can install it in your browser and have each text entry checked on the fly (please, note that for the feature to work properly you’ll need a stable Internet connection).

Premium Version

With 250 additional parameters, the premium version allows you to unleash the full potential of the service. For example, you can check your text for plagiarism, as well as get tips on improving your writing style.

The minimum monthly fee is $11.5 (provided you paid for a full year in advance). Also, you can invite your friends and get a free week for each registered user as a bonus.

The premium version allows you to adapt corrections to a particular text type, be it a scientific essay, a blog post or a business email. It also adds spell-checking functionality in your MS Office products.

Suggesting synonyms is another handy feature which will be especially useful for users seeking to expand their vocabulary.

All in all, the premium version is ideally suited for individuals who earn their living writing texts.

Conclusion

Grammarly is an excellent service that can dramatically improve your knowledge of English grammar. It alerts you every time you make a mistake, providing you with useful tips about possible correction options.