Grammar
May 11th , 2011
Let your visitors correct text directly on your site
Out now: Ginger’s shiny and new correction widget! Yes, we’ve had our little online Ginger widget up and running on our website for a while now but we just gave it a boost and a face lift. Our brilliant art … Continue reading
Posted in Archive, Grammar, Spelling | Tagged online tool
May 3rd , 2011
Calling all beta lovers
All you Ginger users out there already know the famous Ginger drawer, F2 key and correction window. Behind the scenes, we have been working on creating a much lighter interface. Our goal was to develop a straightforward tool that will … Continue reading
Posted in English learning, English writing, Grammar, Proofreading | Tagged beta, seamless
Jan 18th , 2011
Grammar Check: American versus British English
When performing an online grammar check, it is important to note if the language you are using is American or British English. Believe it or not, there is a subtle but significant difference between them.
According to Wikipedia, “Received Pronunciation (RP), also called the Queen’s (or King’s) English, Oxford English, or BBC English, is the accent of Standard English in England, with a relationship to regional accents similar to the relationship in other European languages between their standard varieties and their regional forms.”
Wikipedia defines American English as “a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States,” and notes that around two-thirds of the people in the world that speak English as native language live in the United States – making the American dialect the more common of the two.
As a former British colony, the United States inherited English in the same way that Latin America inherited Spanish and Portuguese. However, over the years, American and British English have diverged in accent, spelling and vocabulary. A student of one will likely understand the other without too much additional effort, but should be aware of the differences that exist in literature, slang, pronunciation, letter writing and so on.
In the United States, students are generally taught American English, with little or no reference to the English spoken in the United Kingdom. Students of English as a Second Language (ESL), as well as native-speaking high school students in English class, may have only minimal knowledge of the differences between the two dialects.
English students in the US are taught the language using a variety of tools, including listening exercises, speaking and interviewing techniques and English games. One such game is called a “spelling bee.” Also used to teach grade school children how to spell, spelling bees are contests in which participants compete over who can spell the greatest number of words correctly. As the English language is full of exceptions, and spelling is often not done phonetically, learning how to spell correctly is a key part of growing comfortable with the language for non-native speakers.
Even for native speakers, the differences between American and British English can be a source of amusement. Anyone who has ever witnessed a social encounter between Americans and Brits has probably seen first hand how humorous it can be for them to compare words, especially slang words, and phrases across the cultural divide. However, English students can take comfort in the fact that the differences between the two are not really that great.
Posted in Grammar | Tagged grammar check, online grammar check
Jan 9th , 2011
Grammar Check
A simple grammar check, done with a regular grammar checker that does not have context awareness, can produce confusing results. Let’s take a look at a regular grammar check and then compare it with a context-aware grammar check.
If you type, in a regular grammar checker, the following sentence: “My English Vocabulary is much bitter now!” it will think everything is great with it. All the words are spelled correctly and there are no grammar mistakes so you will get no correction offers. The only problem is, you just wrote an extremely silly sentence in English and your Grammar checker thinks nothing is wrong with it. Your English will become bitter indeed.
The context-aware correction software will recognize your mistake right away because it relies, not only on a list of grammatical rules that are automatically applied, but on a vast database of English language sentences. This allows the context-smart Grammar check to recognize mistakes that are not directly related with misspelled words or grammar errors. The correction offered will be, of course: “My English Vocabulary is much better now!” Better indeed.
Let’s look at another sentence: “I developed a unique system of English liaison plans that improve Vocabulary and Grammar!”
Your regular, naughty, Grammar check will see nothing wrong with this sentence. Now think of the embarrassment of presenting such a sentence in a conference or a business meeting. Even very experienced writers can occasionally make silly mistakes like that, especially if they rely on a spell check to correct errors and do not proofread.
As you can see, you can get countless amusing results. The fact of the matter is, creating a coherent sentence in English, or in any other language for that matter, is all about context, and a spell checker that is not context aware will give you many results that are simply silly.
Our context-aware Grammar check will correct the above sentence and transform it into a logical and “moral” one: “I developed a unique system of English lesson plans that improve Vocabulary and Grammar!” Much better!
So if you don’t want to make "liaison" plans and speak "bitter" English please choose your automatic correction tool carefully. If it does not analyze a complete sentence in order to take a look at contextual connections it will probably appreciate silly sentences like the ones above and think nothing is wrong with them.
Posted in Grammar | Tagged english grammar checker, grammar check, grammar checker
Jan 9th , 2011
Grammar Rules
If you are thinking of using an English online correction tool to improve your English Language there are a few important things to consider before making your selection. Most correction tools use a list of grammar rules. You will receive correction suggestions from them only if your sentence is not compatible with the Grammar Rules that they are programmed to recognize. Grammar rules are essential for the English language and grammar errors should be recognized and corrected by any English on line correction tool. But is that enough? For an ESL student without a lot of experience in using the English language, such a correction tool may pose several difficulties. Let’s take a closer look at some of them.
In order for an ESL student to really learn how to use the English language, compose sentences and speak with confidence, a context sensitive online correction tool is required. The software that uses grammar rules alone to determine errors will miss all, or most, context mistakes. ESL students that get used to relying on an automatic correction tool that is not context-sensitive may ignore some serious mistakes. By using a context-sensitive online correction tool, ESL students can actually check their choice of words, and also ensure that they do not erroneously use words that sound similar to the word they intended to write but are spelled differently.
Understanding grammar rules is not enough in order to develop sophisticated English Language communication skills. Another important feature for ESL students that would like to improve their spoken English Language by using an English on line correction tool is Text to Speech. Most ESL students will need to improve their pronunciation and their accent. Using a quality Text to Speech feature will allow ESL students to listen to English Language words as they are properly pronounced The Text to Speech feature.
Another useful feature is an English online learning course that uses the ESL student’s written texts in order to demonstrate how to use Grammar Rules and avoid making mistakes. Using an on line correction service that also features a self improvement learning course is a great asset for the ESL student. Recognizing the individual error is not enough, learning why it was done and how to avoid repeating it in the future will ensure a progressive learning process that is based on a continual advancement and self improvement process.
Posted in Grammar | Tagged English grammar rules, Grammar rules
Jan 9th , 2011
Grammar Checker
A simple grammar check, done with a regular grammar checker that does not have context awareness, can produce confusing results. Let’s take a look at a regular grammar check and then compare it with a context-aware grammar check.
If you type, in a regular grammar checker, the following sentence: “My English Vocabulary is much bitter now!” it will think everything is great with it. All the words are spelled correctly and there are no grammar mistakes so you will get no correction offers. The only problem is, you just wrote an extremely silly sentence in English and your Grammar checker thinks nothing is wrong with it. Your English will become bitter indeed.
The context-aware correction software will recognize your mistake right away because it relies, not only on a list of grammatical rules that are automatically applied, but on a vast database of English language sentences. This allows the context-smart Grammar check to recognize mistakes that are not directly related with misspelled words or grammar errors. The correction offered will be, of course: “My English Vocabulary is much better now!” Better indeed.
Let’s look at another sentence: “I developed a unique system of English liaison plans that improve Vocabulary and Grammar!”
Your regular, naughty, Grammar check will see nothing wrong with this sentence. Now think of the embarrassment of presenting such a sentence in a conference or a business meeting. Even very experienced writers can occasionally make silly mistakes like that, especially if they rely on a spell check to correct errors and do not proofread.
As you can see, you can get countless amusing results. The fact of the matter is, creating a coherent sentence in English, or in any other language for that matter, is all about context, and a spell checker that is not context aware will give you many results that are simply silly.
Our context-aware Grammar check will correct the above sentence and transform it into a logical and “moral” one: “I developed a unique system of English lesson plans that improve Vocabulary and Grammar!” Much better!
So if you don’t want to make liaison plans and speak bitter English please choose your automatic correction tool carefully. If it does not analyze a complete sentence in order to take a look at contextual connections it will probably appreciate silly sentences like the ones above and think nothing is wrong with them.
Posted in Grammar | Tagged grammar check, grammar checker
Jan 9th , 2011
English Grammar
After teaching English grammar for a while, you come to the realization (along with your students) that English is a strange, hybrid language!
Some languages are phonetic – spelling and pronunciation are fairly obvious and consistent, following logical patterns and rules. English is not one of them.
The English language has so many influences from so many foreign languages that at times it can be very difficult to figure out how to correctly spell and pronounce some words. For example, why do the words “should” and “wood” rhyme? Why don’t “weight” and “height” rhyme? There are many such examples.
In addition, the English noun often has been imported from other languages. Examples include accoutrement, zeitgeist, chutzpah, coup d’état, détente, and the list goes on. These words cause many problems for students of English, and even native speakers sometimes spell and pronounce them incorrectly.
These nouns, along with irregular verbs and grammar exceptions, make English a challenging language to master. However, once a student acknowledges and accepts the eccentricities of the English language, they often realize the wisdom of memorizing the rules, and then remembering to tackle the myriad exceptions as they encounter them. This approach can make language learning much less daunting.
Another difficult point for students in an English school to master is idioms. The reason that many students find idioms too difficult to learn and master is because, most of the time, there is no logical way to explain their origins (for example, “it’s raining cats and dogs” or “she blew her top”). Instead, students must rely on memory and practice to learn them.
There are so many idioms in English that they can be confusing for the average learner, especially as teachers sometimes tend to overemphasize them in their lesson plans. However, if idioms are taught intermittently, as they arise in written or spoken material (such as newspaper articles, reading passages or TV news items), then students will be much more likely to remember them – especially if they are instructed to practice them in their writing and speaking.
Using this more haphazard method, students will generally retain idioms better, and the odds that they will recall them the next time they hear them somewhere are higher. Generally, this is more or less adequate for students of English, as they need to recognize and know how to interpret idioms that they hear in conversation, but do not necessarily need to be able to use them when speaking themselves.
Posted in Grammar | Tagged English Grammar, Grammar