Grammarly - Blessing or Curse?

If you’ve spent as much time on the internet as I have, you’ve probably come across ads for Grammarly. They’re certainly a staple over on YouTube, second in pervasiveness and irritation only to those Chinese stolen-asset rip-off games that just won’t die! But I’m getting side-tracked here. In recent days, I’ve looked into Grammarly myself and I have to say, I don’t like what I see. In fact, I’d consider this service to be highly problematic, certainly from a writer’s perspective. 

On the surface, Grammarly looks like a pretty useful tool. It ostensibly helps you detect errors in your writing and helps you avoid overly complex and intricate phrases, the latter of which should be more than familiar to every reader of this blog. In all seriousness though, I can see the basic utility in such a tool, particularly if you’re not someone who’s used to writing or if you’re someone who’s emails always sound the same, no matter whether you’re writing to your team, your manager, or your spouse. After all, not everyone is a blogger or a writer.

At the same time however, taking what amounts to an algorithmic approach to writing poses the very real risk of suppressing and outright eliminating individuality. Skilled writers will have years of experience under their belts and will know how to adapt their writing to suit whatever audience they’re addressing. They’ll also know how to inject their style into their writing regardless of the audience they’re addressing. The stuff I’m putting out here on my blog reads completely different from the emails and reports I send during my day job. This might not necessarily be the case for someone who’s fresh out of school and trying to get a job, or someone who’s slaving on a college paper that they were not prepared at all for during their school time. More often than not, these people will be completely clueless about their style and will gladly take the aid offered by tools such as Grammarly. Honestly, I can’t blame them for that. 

This is where the problematic side of Grammarly comes in. While its algorithm may be fairly good at detecting wordy sentences or complicated phrases, by its very nature, it cannot detect style. To such a tool, an academic definition copied from Wikipedia will appear identical to a deliberate utilisation of overly complex verbiage just to emphasise a certain aspect of an issue. It will issue the same recommendations in both cases and inexperienced writers will likely take these recommendations onboard, leading to increasingly bland and unimaginative texts. Granted, neither Grammarly nor other tools force you to accept their recommendations, however a tool that promises to improve your writing will of course exert a certain pressure to accept its recommendations. This is something I’ve experienced myself, though I’m using Microsoft Editor, which comes native with Office 365, rather than Grammarly. Because hey, why should I pay extra, when a tool similar to Grammarly is available as part of my O365 subscription?

Seriously though, I can see this becoming a real issue in the months and years to come, especially now that computer use has been forced as a consequence of the ongoing crisis. One of the most important ways to develop one’s style as a writer is to scope out what works and more importantly, what doesn’t. Simply following the recommendations of an AI is unfortunately not a substitute for this sometimes painful learning process. A stern rejection from a teacher, tutor, college professor or manager might sting, I’ve been on the receiving end of that more than once, but it will also stick with you, and you will likely be able to draw lessons from such a rejection. Unless of course you’re dealing with a psychopathic authoritarian who’s trying to compensate for their own rejections by making life hell for everyone else, but then again not everyone is dealing with a failed real-estate tycoon and former president.

I don’t want this post to end on downer notes and political sideswipes though. Because there is a niche where Grammarly and similar tools will come in extremely handy indeed: Non-native English speakers. As an emigrant living in Ireland and working in the tech sector here, I’ve come across multiple instances of people from non-anglophone countries, mainly Germany, France, Spain or Italy, arrive here with limited English skills. This isn’t as much of an issue as one might at first think as many companies have a lot of foreign language teams in Ireland and a lot of the initial communication will be with team mates who speak your language. Things take a turn however when the time comes for these workers to move on from entry level roles or work with senior management, who will in many cases be Irish, English, or American. Here, having the assistance of tools such as Grammarly could make the difference between a shout-out and commendation, or a reprimand. The same is of course true for foreign language students, for whom tools like Grammarly could be a life saver.

Even then, they shouldn’t be overly relied on, however. Writing, no matter who the recipient might be, is a very personal and individual affair. As such, developing your own style, finding your own voice is a critical part in every writer’s journey. Grammarly will help you get going on that journey and there’s nothing wrong with using it for that. But just like training wheels on a bike, you should eventually move on because they will only restrict you.