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Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Grammar-checking Shakespeare

I've written before about the shortcomings of grammar checkers. So has Geoff Nunberg, in a "Fresh Air" commentary called "The Software We Deserve," included in his 2001 collection "The Way We Talk Now." So have Patricia O'Conner and Stewart Kellerman, at their Grammarphobia blog.

But if that's not convincing enough, here's some recent testimony e-mailed by my friend Louise Kennedy:
So I'm running a spell check on my proposal right before sending it out, and of course I forget to uncheck "check grammar." Which is excellent, because it gives me this:
All the World's a Stage
Suggestions:
The entire [World's a Stage]
"Poor Will," says Louise. Amen to that.

15 comments:

  1. Yea, those "grammar checkers" produce more comedy than they do corrections.

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  2. Man, that Shakespeare. Tell me again why people say he's so great?

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  3. Hahahaha! Well, that just made my morning. :-)

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  4. Oh my! That made me "laugh out loud"!

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  5. "Romeo, Oh Romeo...where the hell are you?"

    Love your blog!

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  6. Congrats on yer BON.

    I enjoyed reading your blog

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  7. Not sure if it has been corrected but for the longest time the message box for the Grammar Checker states "GrammEr check complete".

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  8. I can't stand "grammar checkers!" I read a book which I can only assume was sent through a grammar checker since it consistently used "past" for "passed." At least, I hope it was the grammar checker. I'd hate to think a human proofread it and couldn't do any better than that.

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  9. But don't you love clicking on "ignore rule"?

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  10. I agree that grammar checking software are not full proof just as spell-checkers aren't full proof either. Good post :D

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  11. Ha! Again, in cyberland, the English Lit Department wins over the Drama geeks... me being a latter, often victim to the former in my collegiate days of yore... Great column. Trying to follow but cannot figure out where. Peace! ~R. NeWell DeWitt aka @TheStorysmith

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  12. @Robin

    I believe wherefore means "why" not "where". I think it would be "Romeo, Romeo, why the hell are you named Romeo?"

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  13. Please edit my comment to erase my old twitter name... evidently the words "story" and "smith" can't be used together in the US as one person supposedly was given a legal TM...

    I would appreciate it! Thank you!

    Thought all storytellers were such... guess I was mistaken... Thank you! ~r. newell dewitt

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