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Will Style Writer' solve your grammar blues?
Nicholas Newman 29 June 2008

We all make mistakes in our writing, whether you are a student, writing an email or an essay, or professional journalist producing a Blog or a piece for his publication. It does not help that the English language is such a complicated language which everyday poses some new spelling and grammatical challenge.

Among the grammatical challenges we face are when to use ‘hear' or ‘here' in a sentence. Nor does it help English is peppered with illogically spelt words, for example:

· Learn would be better if it was spelt 'lern',

· Slow - does not need the silent w, so could be spelt 'slo'

· As for the word 'beautiful' it could be shortened to 'butiful'.

All have either redundant consonants or vowels or both, which if such letters were abolished would be easier to spell.

A typical example is in the use of ‘their' or ‘there'. Only your past knowledge and experience can help you decide which word is the most appropriate at the time. Take, for example, the following sentence:

The hero struck the dragon, with a frightening look.

Alternatively,

The hero struck the dragon with a frightening look.

Deciding if and where to place a comma in the above sentence can change the whole meaning of that sentence.

Is Style Writer a solution to your grammar and style writing problems?

To aid writers there are many grammar checking programs on the market, including ‘Style Writer' . They are designed to help aid writers in detecting the grammatical and spelling mistakes we can make.

However, use of any grammar checking software, needs to come with a word of caution. Such software aids you in detecting potential problems, but the solutions put forward are not always suitable, especially when there is no clear explanation behind the suggested answer. You still have to use your brain to decide if the suggested solution is appropriate. If you are still unsure, ask a colleague or and consult a book like the ‘Grammar for Dummies’. I often find, taking a break from, and then looking at it afresh, and reading out the words aloud resolves the matter.

For those looking for grammar checking software that could help them in resolving their grammar blues - I would suggest Style Writer.

About Style Writer

Style Writer, is a plain English Editor, it aims to assist you in writing clear plain English. It is a very useful tool for writers aiming to improve their writing style. I found noteworthy it's advice on improving the clarity of my writing and checking my grammar. It's analysis of my writing style depending on the type of document, I was writing, proved extremely useful.

For further details see Table 1

Table 1 Style Writer Software Features
Software Reviewed	StyleWriter
Spell-Checking	Yes
Grammar checking	Yes
Quality of vocabulary available	Good
Punctuation	Good
Providing a satisfactory explanation to a suggested solution	Yes
Overall Copyediting	Good
Overall Proof-reading functions	Good
Aiding the writer to improve his or her writing style	Very Good
Choice of Templates available	Very Good
How good are the tutorials	Good
Ease of Use	Excellent