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You want your content to be Mistake-free and easy to read, right?

Every time before you hit publish you check the text again.

You keep asking yourself: is this sentence correct or incorrect?

You look at the grammar, the spelling and proofread it all over again to make sure you won’t embarrass yourself.

It takes a lot of time, doesn’t it?

But does it really have to look like this?

Perhaps there’s another way to do it. Perhaps it all can be checked during writing?

Apparently, it’s possible!

How?

There’s this tool called Grammarly which is a grammar, spelling and punctuation checker for sentences, articles, blog posts, books or any other kind of writing.

I’ve been using it for some time now and I’m quite happy with it. It helps me a lot. That’s the reason why I wanted to show you what a great writing tool it is.

In this post, we’ll check if it’s FREE and how it works.

Let’s dive in!

What is Grammarly and How Does It Work?

So, what exactly is Grammarly?

It’s a writing tool (you can either use an app or an extension) that helps you to create better content. It scans your text looking for a few types of mistakes.

The higher the plan you choose the more mistakes it will find.

What’s awesome about it is that it provides real-time suggestions and shows how to correct the mistakes that were found.

What Types of Mistakes Does Grammarly Find?

To be honest, Grammarly is quite advanced when it comes to catching different sorts of mistakes. These six types below are the ones that will surely be noticed by the tool.

• Grammar
• Spell Check
• Punctuation
• Plagiarism
• Sentence Structure
• Writing Style – well it’s not really a mistake but you’ll be asked to tell Grammarly what style you’d like to write in (formal, informal, etc.) and it will suggest words that suit this particular style better

How to Create Your FREE Grammarly Account

In this step, I’ll show you how to create your account step-by-step.

Follow me!

First, go to www.Grammarly.com and choose either ‘Add to Chrome’ (I’m using Google Chrome browser but if you’re using a different one then something else will show up instead) or ‘Check a document’.

I suggest choosing the add to a browser button because you’ll be able to check your writing in real-time instead of having to copy a document.

In the next window, you’ll be asked to provide an email address or to create an account using your Facebook or Google account. Choose whichever you prefer.

I also suggest allowing them to send you updates and premium offers. They send some nice offers every once in a while.

After you’ve provided them a password and your name you’ll be asked to tell them about your writing skills and personalize your account.

This isn’t only to gather some data for further development but it’s also something that will help Grammarly understand better what you need and what real-time suggestions it should provide.

After you click ‘Continue’ you’ll be taken to another window where the two plans are compared with each other.

For now, I suggest choosing a Free version as you can always update it if you find it valuable.

Well, there’s also some statistical data shown by Grammarly on the left. It tells you what’s the average mistake per 1000 words number that people with your writing skills make.

After you choose ‘Continue to Grammarly’ you’ll see a quick tour window.

Don’t skip because it will help you to get familiar with how it works.

Just press ‘Start a Quick Tour’ and follow the instructions.

So, that’s pretty much it when it comes to creating a Grammarly account.

Let’s dive into more details of how it works.

Where and How to Use Grammarly

There are at least a few ways to use Grammarly. We can check the text in real-time, copy the text or import a file.

To do one of the two latter ones we have to log in into our Grammarly account and choose the ‘New’ icon.

In the next window, you should be able to either copy the text or upload a whole document for the tool to check it.

What’s even more awesome about Grammarly is that it allows you to set goals. For your writing in general or for a particular document. We can use the ‘Assistant’ to define them.

If we set these goals then it will be easier for the tool to suggest more helpful and customized words and phrases to use.

How to do that?

In the same window, there’s a smaller menu on the right. Choose ‘Goals’ and set them accordingly.

As I’ve said before you can also decide whether you’d like to set those goals each time you start a new document or just set them once.

Ok, we know how to add our own text and how to import a file. Let’s check now what apps and what programs can we use Grammarly with?

Grammarly Apps and Extensions

Well, when it comes to apps there are three of them:

• Grammarly’s Mobile Keyword – this is a version for mobile devices (both Android and iOs) and it’s available to download from Google Play and App Store
• Grammarly Native App – this a desktop app that works on PC and Mac. It’s compatible with Windows (Windows 7, Windows, 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10) and macOS (version 10.9 and higher)
• Grammarly for MS Office – this is an app made for MS Office, you can use it in programs like MS Word, MS Outlook and more. It works on Microsoft® Office: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016

What’s also available are browser extensions for four different browsers:

• Chrome
• Firefox
• Safari
• Internet Edge

Fine, we now know what kind of programs and operating systems we can use Grammarly with but it’s not clear yet how is the device going to inform us of our mistakes.

Let’s find that out!

How is Grammarly Going To Show You The Mistakes You’ve Made?

Whether you forgot a comm or it’s the grammar or spelling that’s incorrect it’s all quite simple because it’s completely visual.

We’ll see straight away if there’s something wrong with the text.

There are three colors that the words are being underlined with if Grammarly sees that as a mistake:

• Red – this color suggests that there’s something wrong with the correctness of your writing and the tool is trying to improve spelling, punctuation, and grammar

So, what’s the tool’s explanation?

It’s pretty clear, isn’t it?

The tool also shows up when there’s a spelling or a grammar mistake. If you’re sure that the spelling is fine then click on the bin icon to ignore it or add the word to a dictionary.

• Blue – when it’s underlined with a blue line then it means that your text is a bit too unclear. Grammarly’s suggestions help to make it easier to understand. Correcting these blue mistakes is up to you as they’re not critical. They only make your text clearer.

Below you can find what is the explanation behind this correction.

As you can see the tool is trying to make the text more concise as the word ‘really’ is unnecessary here.

• Yellow – this is only available in the premium plan. It provides advanced writing feedback and helps to correct lots of mistakes that a beginner just can’t see.

The yellow mistakes show up just like the ones above but there are so many different types of correction suggestions that I’m not able to cover them all.

That’s why we’ll talk about the premium plan later in the post.

Depending on what program do you use Grammarly with the explanation of the mistakes may show up in different places. If you’re checking it via Grammarly site then the suggestions will show up on the right side of the screen but if for an example you’re creating a new post in WordPress editor then it will show up below the text.

Quick Tip:

If you’re looking for a synonym because you’ve used a word a few times already you have to click twice on a word that you’d like to change.

Grammarly will suggest what you can use instead.

See? There are usually lots of suggestions to choose from.

So, if you can’t come up with an alternative just ask Grammarly

Is Grammarly Safe?

The name of the paragraph is kinda odd, isn’t it?

How can it not be safe?

Well, Grammarly transmits your writing to their servers and as a result, they can’t guarantee 100% security (they actually admitted that in their Privacy Policy).

Their algorithm works in the cloud and it’s AI requires a lot of power.

Even though it may not sound too safe – especially when they state it – sending a piece of content to them is exactly like sending an email.

You just got to be careful when sending sensitive data, typing password, etc.

It would be best if you turned Grammarly off when doing those things.

So, they’re obviously doing all they can to make it safe – it’s in their interest and their profits are at stake here.

By stating that you’re sending the data to them at your own risk they free themselves from the liabilities and potential lawsuits. That’s obviously a common practice – lots of companies do that.

So, what to do? Is it safe or not?

Be careful and don’t send any personal data or legal documents, etc.

I’ve been using it for some time now and I’ve never had any issues so from my perspective: yes, it’s safe.

Who Will Benefit From Using Grammarly? Who Is It Good For?

So, who is this editing tool good for?

According to Grammarly, there are both universities and corporations on the list. There are students who use it for their college work and professionals who want to perfect their writing.

It’s also a great tool for people who are not native speakers as it can improve their content creation process tremendously.

What languages does it support?

Unfortunately, it supports English only. There are four versions that you can choose from here:

• American English
• British English
• Canadian English
• Australian English

Is Grammarly FREE? Pricing, Plans, and Their Features.

To answer the question from the title: yes, Grammarly has a completely FREE plan and what’s even better it’s like no other because the features are really powerful.

It’d be a mistake if you didn’t give it a try.

No credit card is required. Just go here and start your account right now!

Ok, let’s take a look from the broader perspective right now.

There are actually three plans that you can choose from. The Free one I just mentioned, Premium and Business.

What are the main differences?

Let’s check the image below!

Compared to the other plans the FREE one doesn’t look that good.

Yes, I’ve said it’s powerful but it’s still a version that you don’t have to pay anything for.

Both premium and business plans have the same features when it comes to fixing writing issues. The only difference is that the business one is made for teams.

If you’d like to know more about what are the exact mistakes that Grammarly is going to look for then just hover one of the error types to see the description.

As I’ve said previously when it comes to managing teams that use the tool the only option is the Business plan. The other two are limited to one person per account.

The business plan doesn’t only allow more people to use the app but there are also some additional tools for a project manager or a supervisor to use.

The third and the final part of the comparison are the core features and the cost of each plan.

So, this is how the plans compare. Since you can get the FREE plan any time we’re won’t talk about it anymore.

What we’ll talk about is the premium one because that’s the one you’ll be interested the most, right? Well, you might have teams but the features of these two plans are pretty much the same.

Let’s take a closer look at it and discover what kind of mistakes can premium actually find.

Can You Get Grammarly Premium for FREE?

Even though the FREE version of Grammarly is awesome the premium version is even more so.

Its features and capabilities are a different class and they can make you a different class writer as well.

We’ve seen the plan description and we’ve seen the error types but how does it work when writing and what mistakes can it find?

Let’s take a look at a few advanced examples below!

• Grammar – Incorrect Verb Tense

• Punctuation – Coma Splice

• Sentence Structure- Faulty Parallelism

• Style – Double Subject

Well, these are only some of the mistakes that the tool can find but we can see a bigger picture now, right?

The power of the premium plan is exceptional and it gets better and better with every update.

I’ve got one more – quite interesting – thing for you.

Did you know that a keyword: ‘Grammarly premium free’ has a monthly search volume of 12,100?

It’s quite a lot, right?

Indeed, lots of people search for tricks, links or codes that will let them use premium Grammarly plan for free.

The question is: Does it work? Can you really get it for free?

Well, it was doable some time ago but it doesn’t work anymore.

Don’t let anyone fool you that by registering by their link or using their discount code you’ll get the better plan for free.

It’s pure bullshit.

You can get a discount if you pay for a year upfront or you’re fortunate enough and Grammarly offers a promo in their newsletter and you can save a few bucks if you decide to switch to this plan.

Having said that there’s one way to get yourself closer to a premium account.

What way?

The Grammarly’s Affiliate Program where not only will you get a 0.2$ for each registered FREE account, 20$ per every upgrade to a premium plan but also 25$ if you write a post and place a banner that promotes the tool on your website.

If you like Grammarly and would like to support it, just register here.

Pros and Cons of Grammarly

So, let’s sum it all up now: what are the pros and the cons of Grammarly?

Pros:

• probably the best online grammar checker out there
• constantly growing and improving
• the free version is awesome
• if you pay for a year of premium version upfront then the price per month is pretty competitive
• very easy and intuitive to use
• it works with the most popular writing and editing programs
• a great tool for non-native English speakers
• offers high-quality feedback and a very thorough explanation of the mistakes
• thanks to goal setting feature it helps to create better content

Cons:

• lots of advertisement to force you into buying the premium version
• only English language available
• even the most expensive version won’t find and help you fix all the mistakes you make
• it’s not going to replace a human proofreader or a proper education

These are the advantages and disadvantages of using this writing tool.

Do the pros outweigh the cons?

Let’s try to answer this question in the conclusion!

Is Grammarly Worth It?

We got to the end. Finally!

To settle it all I wrote a few bullet points to help you decide whether to stay with the FREE plan or get the PREMIUM one.

Conclusion:

• The FREE plan is excellent and you should use it no matter what you do – even just to test the app – because it’s FREE!
• If English isn’t your main language you should consider buying a premium version – that will surely help you create better content
• Is it going to improve your writing? Yes, but will it make you a better writer as a good university or writing classes would? No, I don’t think so.
• If you know you struggle with writing and you want to save yourself some embarrassment then you should get at least the FREE version.

But, is it worth the money?

Well, I believe that 29.95$ is just too much. The only thing that makes sense to me is paying for the entire year upfront. The monthly fee would be 11.66$ which is 60% less and that is the price I would accept.

Well, that’s it. I think we’ve covered everything. If you have any questions feel free to leave them in the comments!

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed it!

P.S. Are you using Grammarly or you’ve found some alternatives? Let me know in the comments!

The post Is Grammarly FREE? Grammar and Spelling Checker Review. appeared first on Grow Yourself Online.