Lando 
Posted on 03/30/2005 8:30:57 AM PST by Vision Thing
What's wrong with this sentence?
"Microsoft the company should big improve Word grammar check."
A University of Washington associate professor ran it through the grammar check in Microsoft Word, and the software found it acceptable.
Sandeep Krishnamurthy is now on a mission to get the software giant to tweak its grammar-check system.
He says he discovered problems after scolding a student he'd given a poor grade for submitting a paper filled with grammatical errors. The student complained that she had used the software to check for errors.
Microsoft says grammar is almost impossible for a computer to master because it requires artificial intelligence that isn't available. Microsoft Word spokesman Chris Pratley said the best way to ensure grammar is correct is to pay attention in school.
Lando
Not in my experience! In writing an essay for an English class today, it "checked" my essay automatically and tried to make me turn a statement into a question, simply because.
"If the computer says it's wrong, it likely is."
One of the things that has PISSED me off with MS spel cheker is how Microsoft has all but obliterated the proper use of the apostrophe.
It gets it right with contractions as in "it's" for "it is".
But when an apostrophe is used in the possessive tense MS has rewritten grammar for a generation.
The possessive use, such as its' or Bobs' , is obliterated by spel cheker. If it does not obliterate the proper use it alters the possessive to a contraction.
Bobs' becomes Bob's which has a different meaning.
"Bobs' car" becomes, literally, "Bob's car" which means "Bob is car".
Bob is not a car, Bob has a car.
But why should MS care?
"If the computer says it's wrong, it likely is."
No, I have had the computer suggest some outrageously stupid grammar "corrections". If I had made these suggested changes, I would have looked like a complete mororn. If you don't know grammar, you have no business letting the computer check it for you. It is only good at finding some errors. As the guy said, go learn grammar first.
Too many children are being taught about homosexuals but not homonyms in our schools.
passes grammer test.
Well, I guess the passive voice is always wrong, then, because the grammar checker always marks the use of the passive voice as wrong....
I'm not too sure.
a) We love fags and promote homosexuality.
b) Fags pollute the air, and everyone who smokes them should be shot.
No. It's EXACTLY like it.
Therein lies the problem. Since when is it okay for STUDENTS to use spell check and grammar check in English class? AND.. since when is a teacher going to change a grade because the student used spell/grammar check? It is, and always has been, the students' responsibility to proofread their work to ensure that their product says wheat they mean it to say and that it is technically correct. While nice to have, spell checkers and grammar checkers are not responsible for a student's grade. < /pet peeve>
speaking of proofreading...
wheat=what
""Bobs' car" becomes, literally, "Bob's car" which means "Bob is car". "
Well, now. In reality, Word is handling that correctly. The possessive form of "Bob" is "Bob's." It is you, unfortunately, who is misspelling that possessive, and misinterpreting Word's spelling checker.
Sorry.
Scene from Cheers:
Sam: "Where are you going to?"
Diane: "Sam, don't you know you shouldn't end a sentence with a preposition?"
Sam: "Oh, sorry. Where are you going to, mallethead?"
Actually, you're spelling the possessive form incorrectly.
The sentence "Bob's a car." would say that "Bob is a car."
The sentence "That one is Bob's car." is the correct spelling for "Bob's" to indicate whose car it is.
The thesaurus in newer versions of Microsoft Word is also worthless.
Type in "idiot" for example, check the built-in thesaurus for synonyms, and the response is "No results were found."
Dozens of normal words have been deemed "inappropriate" by the Microsoft PC Language Police and yield "no results" in the Word thesaurus.
If Bill Gates wants to fix public schools, maybe he should start with his flagship word processing program.
Cretins.
"Green ideas sleep furiously." Passes grammar test.
As it should. Grammar doesn't check that the sentence makes sense. I can say "$hit loves cake." That doesn't make sense, but the grammar is correct. In the sentence above, 'green' is used as an adjective to modifiy 'ideas'. Ideas can't sleep, but that is not a grammar mistake. This sentence is in the exact same form as "Lovely children sleep calmly."
Try this out in Word: "Me am going to the store." It passes!
heh!
"Green ideas sleep furiously.
passes grammer[sic] test."
That's because the grammar in that sentence is absolutely correct. The sentence makes no sense, of course, but that's not what a computer grammar checker is for.
Grammar has little to do with sense. Your exemplar might well be used as a line in a poem, even though it appears to be nonsensical.
However, gramatically, it is just fine.
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