Google Answers Logo
View Question
 
Q: Software to check english spelling and grammar ( Answered 5 out of 5 stars,   4 Comments )
Question  
Subject: Software to check english spelling and grammar
Category: Computers > Software
Asked by: digulla-ga
List Price: $10.00
Posted: 23 Apr 2002 02:12 PDT
Expires: 23 May 2002 02:12 PDT
Question ID: 3072
I'm writing science fiction and fantasy stories in German and English. For the 
German versions, I use "Duden Korrektor" which uses Word and checks spelling 
and grammar.

What software is there to check english spelling and grammar, what else do I 
need to use it (Word, Linux, whatever)? I'm running Linux and VMWare with 
Office XP, so I'm looking for free software which runs directly on Linux or 
something which I can plug into the German version of Office XP.

Since I'm a hobbyist, something beyond the $500 price range is "nice to know" 
but of no real use to me.

Also, I would be very interested to see how well that software fares from the 
users point of view (ease of use, how much it can find, can it be trained to 
spot certain errors, etc).
Answer  
Subject: Re: Software to check english spelling and grammar
Answered By: roguedog-ga on 23 Apr 2002 15:18 PDT
Rated:5 out of 5 stars
 
Dear Digulla,


Thank you for your inquiry.

I am just a bit confused by the phrasing of your question in that you seem to 
already have MS Office XP so you already have a spelling and grammar tools in 
MS Word.

If you would like to extend the capabilities of MS Word there are several 3rd 
party developers to meet your needs.

==MS Office Extensions and Windows based spellcheckers.
Most of the software listed here is shareware so caveat emptor.

AutoSpell
http://www.spellchecker.com/personal/
Supported OS: Win ME, Win 98, Win 95, Win 2000, Win NT
Supported Applications: MS Word, MS Excel, MS FrontPage, MS Outlook, MS Works, 
MS Outlook Express
Price: $49.95/ED $55.00/CD.
Not a shareware product.  Extend the spell-checking capabilities of Microsoft 
Office without the need for purchasing separate dictionaries. With AutoSpell 
for Microsoft Office, you can add full-featured, high-quality spell checking 
that supports multiple languages at a low cost. It integrates so well with your 
Microsoft Office applications that you won't even know it's running. Supports 
spell checking in 12 languages, plus internet terms, custom dictionaries and 
more. Works with Word, Excel, FrontPage, Outlook, Works, Outlook Express, Mail 
and News, Exchange, and Windows Messaging.

Download.com
http://download.com.com/3120-2001-0-1-3.html?qt=spellchecker&ca=2001
Here is the top 4 user rated spellcheckers from Download.com.

SpellCheckAnywhere 2.0
User rating: 100% of 6 votes
OS: Windows 95/98/Me/2000/XP
File Size: 3.38MB
Cost; $19.97
From the developer: "Adds a spell-checker to almost any Windows program. Spell-
checks in Internet Explorer, Netscape, Notepad, Outlook and almost anywhere 
else in Windows. Simply press F11 on your keyboard to spell-check. Just make 
sure the cursor is inside a text-area with text to spell check and press F11. 
Works in almost all Windows programs."

Spell Magic 3.03
User rating:  84% of 19 votes
OS: Windows 95/98/NT 
File Size: 909K
Cost:  $19.95. 
From the developer: "Spelling checker, configurable, fast, intuitive, powerful 
and centralized (14 languages and Medical) assists your writing and editing 
efforts. Use one system wide on-the-fly spell check. Fully documented, resides 
in the WIN95/98/NT System Tray, a simple Hotkey analyzes any word, paragraph, 
or document from any application, email program, text/HTML editor, database." 

Polar SpellChecker ActiveX  2.0 
User rating:  58% of 12 votes
OS: Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP 
File Size: 1.81MB
Cost: $99
Polar SpellChecker is a 32-bit ActiveX (OCX) control that integrates spell-
checking and autocorrect features into your applications. It includes 
dictionaries for nine languages (available at the developer's site) and an 
autocorrect dialog box with a customizable list of exceptions and 
abbreviations, and suggests alternatives for misspelled words. This version 
displays a warning dialog every 30 minutes.

WSpell ActiveX Spelling Checker  5.8
User rating: CNET Pick; no user rating
OS: Windows 95/98/NT
File Size: 1.28MB
Cost: $169
From the developer: WSpell is an ActiveX control (OCX) you can use to add spell-
check capability to your applications. Spell-check text boxes on a form, and 
text strings, using either the built-in spell-check dialog or your own user 
interface. WSpell comes with professional-quality 100,000-word American and 
British English dictionaries, and you can use any of Wintertree Software's 
available dictionaries for other languages or for medical and legal terms. 
WSpell supports multiple-user dictionaries and can use dictionaries from other 
applications, including Word.

ProgramFiles.com – Spellcheckers
http://www.programfiles.com/index.asp?menu2=29
Most of these are for Windows OS
This site lists several shareware types of applications.  Two that may be of 
interest to you are Speller for Microsoft Office and Grammar Expert Plus.

Speller for Microsoft Office 1.8
http://www.programfiles.com/index.asp?ID=14134
Windows 95/98/NT/2000
Shareware ($14.95)
“While Office is shipped with a spellchecker that supports the U.S. (American) 
English and U.K. (British) English languages, if you need spellcheckers for 
additional languages, you need to purchase them separately. Speller for 
Microsoft Office allows you to spellcheck in 12 languages all with one 
spellchecker! 
With Speller for Microsoft Office, you can have a quality spellchecker that 
supports multiple languages at a low cost. It integrates so well with your 
Microsoft applications that you won't know it's running. 
Features : 
-	Includes dictionaries for 12 languages: Brazilian Portuguese, Danish, 
Dutch, English (American, U.S.), English (British, U.K.), Finnish, French, 
German, Italian, Norwegian Bokmal, Spanish, and Swedish. 

Grammar Expert Plus
http://www.programfiles.com/index.asp?ID=3994
Platform: Windows 95/98
US$59.95 CDN$89.00

“Grammar Expert Plus can check text you have typed, text and rich-text 
documents, and the Windows clipboard. You can install Grammar Expert Plus as an 
icon in the system tray, next to the clock on the task bar, where it is always 
accessible. Grammar Expert Plus is ideal for checking text you enter in other 
applications that lack grammar and spelling checkers. “
SpellCheck
http://www.sharewarejunkies.com/8s3/spellche.htm
Supported Platforms: Win 31., WIN95
Authors Name: Next Generation Software, Inc.
Version: 3.8 
Price: $9 
Installed Size: 1.47MB
This functional little programme checks your spelling, in any document you are 
working on such as a plain text, a mail, or a page of HTML. Launch it, and 
leave it minimised as you work on your text. Then right click on the SpellCheck 
icon, and tell it to check the document in the current window. And it does. It 
suggests words to replace misspellings, and it allows you to add to the custom 
dictionary, so that eventually you will build up a spellchecker that has a full 
dictionary for your kind of work, even with a technical vocabulary. Once the 
spell check is done, it quietly puts itself away again on the task bar, and you 
can carry on typing.


==Linux/Unix Spellcheckers
In case you use a text editor that does not currently have spelling or grammar 
tools or you are trying to become a Unix purist, here are a few that may be of 
interest to you.  Caveat Emptor.  These are GNU or shareware and thus, may not 
be the most reliable, stable, bug proof, etc.

Aspell
http://aspell.sourceforge.net/
“Aspell is an Open Source spell checker designed to eventually replace Ispell. 
Its main feature is that it does a superior job of coming up than just about 
any other spell checker out there for the English language. “ As of March 2002, 
Kevin Atkinson will no longer continue maintaining the Aspell code.

TeraSpell for Emacs
http://www.firstlinux.com/product/Editors/101.shtml
“Providing the technically most advanced spelling correction system available 
on the market. Fully featured superior correction, tremendous coverage, amazing 
speed, and wide support... complete with on-the-fly spell checking!” from a 
review by the editors of firstlinux.com

The WordManager
http://sourceforge.net/projects/wordmanager/
“A program that you can use for almost anything dealing with writing (except 
for the editor). Dictionary, spellchecking, thesaurus, validation. It will use 
current free tools and Internet resources.”  This is another download from 
sourceforge.net.

==On the Web

Spellcheck.net
http://www.spellcheck.net/
This is free but there is a 5000-character limit.


I hope at least a few of these resources are what you were looking for.

Request for Answer Clarification by digulla-ga on 24 Apr 2002 03:04 PDT
Thanks for the extensive answer. To clarify: I'm looking for something which 
can find *grammatical* errors (these tools usually contain a spell checker but 
a spell checker is "too simple" for me). The tools which are provided with 
Office don't really count in this respect because the spell checking isn't very 
good (it doesn't know enough words and the algorithm which tries to find the 
correct word when it has a typo is bad at best) and the grammatical checking 
only exists in the marketing hype :-)

That's why I mentioned the Duden Korrektor which does exactly this job for 
German texts. It does spell and grammar checking accorrding to the newest 
rules; the software is made by the Duden Verlag which is the official authority 
when it comes to German spelling and grammar; they are similar to the guys 
Oxford for British English.

So "Grammar Expert Plus" seems to be the only tool which matches my needs.

Are you willing to extend this research specifically for grammatical checkers 
or should I create a new question (ie. I would not mind to pay another 10 bucks 
because I realize that my question was not formulated clearly enough :-) ?

Clarification of Answer by roguedog-ga on 24 Apr 2002 09:27 PDT
Dear Digulla,

I have done a bit more research on this for you. I hope you’ll find these 
helpful!

==Grammar Expert Plus
http://download.com.com/3000-2279-895767.html?tag=lst-0-3
I know I provided link in my previous message but this one may be more recent. 
Plus 81% of download.com users liked this application.

==Grammatica  4.1.5  
http://download.com.com/3000-2079-8895102.html?tag=lst-0-2
OS: Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP 
File Size: 6MB
Cost: $45
From the developer: "Bilingual grammar & spelling checker for English/French. 
Grammatica is a very powerful bilingual grammar and spelling checker for 
English and French. Its dictionary includes more than 500000 entries in French 
and more than 275 000 entries in English. It can also open text and HTML 
documents. It includes an Automatic recognition of the language used in a given 
sentence. The grammatical lexicon allows you to define the kind of word you 
wish to add to the lexicon; this allows it to take these words into account 
during a grammar check. 
This demo is limited to 300 grammar or spelling checking and 50 global checking.

Add-ons that may be of interest
Please refere to the articles towards the bottom of this message but most of 
the research done indicates that while grammar checkers are helpful, they 
cannot, at this point, replace human proofreading.  I hope these add-on 
applications help extend the capabilities of whichever grammar checker you 
choose.

==Grammar Slammer
http://englishplus.com/gramslam.htm
Windows 95/98/2000/NT/ME edition
Grammar Slammer Deluxe (grammar & spell checker): $39
Grammar Slammer (grammar checker only) Windows: $25. 

5 cows
Zd editor’s choice
5 star from shareware junkie
4 stars from yippee net

Grammar Slammer answers those questions that the Grammar Checkers can't! 
Grammar Slammer helps you in your writing and grammar the simplest way known to 
Windows Word Processor users. Disk-based grammar books are cumbersome. Grammar 
Checkers are helpful, but they are limited. They miss things and often ask you 
questions you can't answer. 
("Do you want a comma here?" the computer asks. 
"How should I know?" you reply.) 
Grammar Slammer, on the other hand, supplements the Grammar Checker by 
providing answers in a format that you already know how to use--the Windows 
Help File! One click and it's ready to use. Works from easy-to-use toolbar; can 
be added to any full-featured Windows word processor. Great for anyone writing 
the English language in Windows.

==Corel WordPerfect 2000
http://www3.corel.com/cgi-bin/gx.cgi/AppLogic+FTContentServer?
pagename=CorelStore/ProductOverview&id=CC1MSNDMYJC
Standard Edition Full Price:  $389.00US

I included this word processing package because Grammatik is the grammar 
checker that is packaged with this product and of the major word processing 
software applications with built-in grammar checkers, Grammatik is one that is 
commonly referenced.  This is for your “nice to know” category. J

==StyleWriter
http://www.stylewriter-usa.com/whatis.html
StyleWriter - the Plain English Editor (for WINDOWS®) - is the world's largest 
computerized style and usage checker. StyleWriter checks word-processed 
documents against 35,000+ language problems and ways of clarifying the style. 
The program helps you edit and polish writing into clear and concise English. 
Running from within your word processor on your files, StyleWriter is the 
quickest way to improve your writing style. It teaches you the techniques of 
top-grade journalists, editors and other professional writers, and helps you 
break poor writing habits. You don’t have to be an expert in the English 
language or in computers to use Style Writer. It avoids technical terms and 
concentrates on making your writing more readable.

Articles on Grammar Checkers

Evaluating Grammar Checkers
http://papyr.com/hypertextbooks/engl_126/gramchek.htm

Computer Grammar Checkers and Teaching ESL Writing
http://www.coe.missouri.edu/~cjw/portfolio/grammar-checker.htm

Do grammar checkers work?
A report on research into the effectiveness of Grammatik V based on samples of 
authentic essays by EFL students Paper presented at EUROCALL 96 Dániel 
Berszenyi College, Hungary
byYu Hong Wei and Graham Davies 
http://www.camsoftpartners.co.uk/euro96b.htm

How to get my job
http://www.jerrypournelle.com/slowchange/myjob.html

I hope this additional information has been helpful!
digulla-ga rated this answer:5 out of 5 stars
After clarifying my question, I got a very good answer with useful
information.

Note to the Google-guys: There should be a way for a researcher to ask
questions before he starts the research if something is not clear
(something where he can accept a research without submitting an
answer) so he doesn't waste his time doing the "wrong" research.

Comments  
Subject: Re: Software to check english spelling and grammar
From: camponi-ga on 23 Apr 2002 08:22 PDT
 
You could try www.lexenglish.com.br as this company is agent for a UK based 
company that sells a unique editing software that corrects grammar and gives 
tips when you get ambiguous spellings. You can even download a version to 
test.  It is extremely easy to use.  Just get in touch through one of their on-
line forms.
Subject: Re: Software to check english spelling and grammar
From: digulla-ga on 24 Apr 2002 03:09 PDT
 
> You could try www.lexenglish.com.br...

How do you know? All I found on the web site is that they do tranlation 
services but no hint that they sell or use software :-/
Subject: Re: Software to check english spelling and grammar
From: digulla-ga on 03 May 2002 02:32 PDT
 
Some things which I found after following the links above:

Writer's Workbench is a program which was developed over many decades
(originally from Bell Labs in the 1970s). It's now available at
http://www.emo.com/wwb/wwbmaintext.shtml for ~$100.

And there's StyleWriter at http://www.stylewriter-usa.com/index.html
for $160. But that thing is geared more towards "good writing style",
i.e. it will check for common mistakes (long sentences, repeated
words, clumsy wording, etc) and give hints how to improve that (to
make the text more easily readable).
Subject: Re: Software to check english spelling and grammar
From: graememcrae-ga on 31 May 2004 19:45 PDT
 
Re: Note to the Google-guys: There should be a way for a researcher to ask
questions before he starts the research if something is not clear
(something where he can accept a research without submitting an
answer) so he doesn't waste his time doing the "wrong" research.

There is a way for researchers to do exactly that.

It's called a "request for clarification", which they can submit
without providing an answer.

Important Disclaimer: Answers and comments provided on Google Answers are general information, and are not intended to substitute for informed professional medical, psychiatric, psychological, tax, legal, investment, accounting, or other professional advice. Google does not endorse, and expressly disclaims liability for any product, manufacturer, distributor, service or service provider mentioned or any opinion expressed in answers or comments. Please read carefully the Google Answers Terms of Service.

If you feel that you have found inappropriate content, please let us know by emailing us at answers-support@google.com with the question ID listed above. Thank you.
Search Google Answers for
Google Answers  


Google Home - Answers FAQ - Terms of Service - Privacy Policy