I signed up for the free Grammarly years ago because my spelling stinks.
#youaretellingme
I don’t need the comments. The kids are school were NOT good today and have me considering emptying my life savings to retire early, living life in our camper and doing something kind of work from home job! Ugh!
Anyway (without the interruptions), I have always appreciated what the free version can do. I love the fact it can spellcheck on the go and offer up ideas for word changes/placement. If I weren’t a tightwad, I’d spring for the “premium” version and get all the time. As it is, I still get a few of those suggestions per day, which is nice.
Another cool thing, it sends me a weekly update on my writing. This week’s looked like this:
#sweet
Now, if you have the free Grammarly or the premium, you’ve seen this before. However, for those of you who have not, it gives you a word count, accuracy, and vocabulary. During a week like this, where I’m consciously trying to write more, those stats are a boost for sure! I love that my accuracy is absolute trash (thus my need for this kind of app), but what I love the most, the vocabulary. My wife is an English major, worked for a newspaper, and a pretty good writer in her own right, so I always feel like a neanderthal when talking with her because she pulls out these obsure words and I’m like, “I’m sorry, what,” to get that “oh, you poor fool” look from her.
#ohyoudonot
Perhaps I exaggerate a tiny bit, but she is well spoke and well written and it can be intimidating. But to see Grammarly says I use all these unique words and that it’s 97% more unique than other users, that’s pretty cool. Honestly, that vocabulary translates into the classroom. I’ve had to rethink the words I use in class because of my students, but many time, I’ll pull out something knowing they will question what I am saying, which leads to talking about words. My students have asked, “Why do you use these words,” to which I reply, “To push your minds.” The eyerolls I get are epic!
Anyway, if you get into a discussion about what writing tools people us, Grammarly has to be in that conversation. I’d love to get a feel what premium looks like and if it is truly worth it for a teacher who likes to cosplay as a writer!
I’ll leave you with a question, only because I am curious: What tools do you use with your writing, if any?
#youarealwayslookingarentyou
I’m always trying to make myself better, yes! 🙂
The Life of a Conflicted Teacher 
March 14, 2025 at 4:08 pm
Wonderful ♥️
March 14, 2025 at 5:31 pm
I do use the red and green squiggly lines a word document provides, but I don’t always follow what its recommendation. In addition my blog is in a wordpress.com website where I can use AI to assist with writing, titles, and possibly more. I’ve used it once or twice and feel it does do a better job creating titles than I do.
March 14, 2025 at 7:18 pm
That’a a great idea with the AI. If my blog needs a picture, I use the AI to create an image, which is pretty sweet!
March 14, 2025 at 7:33 pm
My students have asked, “Why do you use these words,” to which I reply, “To push your minds.” Oh the amount of times I had the same reaction from my students. I told them they would be $5 words. I’d always teach them Greek & Latin roots. They would get so excited when they’d come across a “big” word and they’d come running to me to show me. They’d always proudly say I kind of know what this word means because that is a Greek root!
March 14, 2025 at 8:37 pm
I liked reading your post 😊
March 14, 2025 at 9:20 pm
Darren,
At first I started correcting spelling in my head—until I realized what you’re doing in the paragraph below the #. Clever! I’ve only used grammarly a couple times, and that was in its early days. I’ve tried to slap google’s AI bot when it interferes with my creative process, a.k.a. my writing. I do, however, think online writing tools can be used for egalitarian purposes, and I saw that in a lunch meeting a few days ago.
March 14, 2025 at 10:41 pm
Darin,
I enjoy your writing! Your clever use of the hashtags always make me smile. Like when you say you “get that ‘oh, you poor fool’ look from her.” and then answer yourself for us: #ohyoudonot
I don’t have any advice for apps, but congratulations on your good scores on Grammarly!
March 27, 2025 at 9:14 pm
Fascinating description of the uses of Grammarly! I know that my students use it, but I have not tried it out for myself. (English major and strong speller here!) The productivity numbers are really cool, and I can definitely see some uses for those. One of these years I am going to continue slicing regularly past March 31, and maybe Grammarly could help me get there?