Are MS Word's Grammar Checker Well Enough, Professor Asks

NBC5i ^ | March 29, 2005

[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.

[johnb838]

it does.

[Colonel_Flagg]

My hangup (I've been called a word Nazi) is "comprise" vs "compose".

I have a few general language peeves as well. Incorrect usage of apostrophes is one; unnecessary capitalization is another. Howveer, there's one above all others:

"email" vs. the correct form, "e-mail". It drives me crazy.

[Izzy Dunne]

The rule of contraction dictates that "Bob's" must be a contraction.

What the heck rule are you referring to?
There are whole web sites devoted to the use of apostrophes.
It has always meant TWO (2), count'em, TWO things:
1... Possessive.
2... Contractions.

So when you isolate the word "Bob's" what does it mean?

I'm not a grammarian, but I would guess it becomes an adjective. But so what?

There is a special case for "its" - since that word could fit either case, the rule is to use "it's" as a contraction for "it is", and to use "its" for possessive, as in "a dog and its owner".

[afraidfortherepublic]

You are lucky the people in your groups even did ANY work from what I hear from various college kids...

LOL That was a problem at times. The professors would not countenance any complaints, either. This was for a business degree and the point was supposed to be that we need to know how to motivate various personalities in the work place and utilize the strengths of each other to complete a project! It was exasperating sometimes. One of the biggest problems was to get the various sections of the paper turned in in time to assemble it into a whole. The younger students always wanted to leave everything to the very last minute.

[discostu]

The rules for final punctuation and quote are incredibly complex.
All punctuations that were in the quote go in the quote. If the quote is ending a sentence and the sentence will end in a period or exlamation they should go in the quote. If the quote is ending a sentence and the sentence will end in a question mark it goes in the quote if the quote was a question, but outside the quote if the whole sentence is a question (ie "did the Spartans really say 'return with your sheilds or on them'?").

Then there's technical writing which hoses up everything. Most quotes in technical writing are instructional, because of that the only things in the quotes should be exactly what you want the person to dopunctuation other than what you want the person to do is outside the quotes regardless and punctuations within the quote have no effect on end of sentence punctuation (ie "to get a list of directory listing options at the command prompt type 'dir /?'.").

[Marysecretary]

Well, it would be nice if these students were taught good grammar in the first place and not depend on a computer to catch it. That's the biggest problem that I see in using computers in schools. Kids need to be taught how to do it right!

[ops33]

A couple of years ago I was writing an article about my Jewish ancestors using Word Perfect. When I ran the article through the grammar checker it hit on the word "Jew" in a sentance. The grammar checker described the word Jew as offensive and suggested I find an alternative.

[LexBaird]

There is a special case for "its" - since that word could fit either case, the rule is to use "it's" as a contraction for "it is", and to use "its" for possessive, as in "a dog and its owner".

The correct contraction for "it is" is 'tis. But, of course, no one uses that anymore. 'Twas, 'tis, 'twill be.

[msdrby]

LOL!

[Old Professer]

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.

It's about time the dog got a break.

[Miss Behave]

LOL, B.

[Old Professer]

Office Outlook constantly checks spelling and grammar; I just ignore it.

[Izzy Dunne]

The correct contraction for "it is" is 'tis.
That implies that yours is the ONLY correct contraction, an opinion with which I disagree.

But, of course, no one uses that anymore.

'Tis a shame, that.

[Old Professer]

its' is never correct.

[Old Professer]

Mororns of America, unite!!!

[Old Professer]

Shall we defer to the expert?

[Old Professer]

Believe it or not, that is the case with over 90% of males.

[TheForceOfOne]

First one to fix the problem gets a handful of candy! lol

[Old Professer]

Over the course of a week WBW my son's 5th grade teacher sent home a list of words for him to study; the very first had two words misspelled and the second had one hyphenated word written as a compound construct of her imagination.

The first reply I got back had a half-hearted apology for the misspellings, "I was in a hurry...", the last note I got back began, "I'm sorry you don't like me..."

[Old Professer]

I believe that Jones' or Jones'es are the acceptable forms.