Even the best of us can use a little help with our writing. We've collected a list of handy tools you can use to make your writing sound crisp, clear, and make sure you're not making any accidental mistakes.
Ginger
A Google Chrome or Safari extension, phone, and computer app, Ginger is a tool that checks your grammar and spelling. It can also provide definitions and synonyms of words, translations, and more. I use it as a Chrome extension, and it works seamlessly throughout my browser, checking emails, documents, and webpages for mistakes. It great for making sure you’re not sending the people those dumb mistakes that sometimes happen by accident.
You can install the extension for free with limited use (what I currently use) or purchase Ginger at a basic or premium level for a monthly or yearly fee. Once you purchase Ginger you have access to even more features. Basic gives you unlimited access to features, and premium includes more features, such as a sentence rephraser and a text reader, while letting you practice your mistakes. It also gives you an analysis of your errors.
Hemingway Editor
The Hemingway Editor is a neat little tool to help make sure your content is easy to read. Basically, it tells you where the dead weight of your writing is, highlighting wordy sentences in yellow, and red when it really hard to read. It also helps you make sure your writing is clear, marking adverbs, passive voice, and complicated words.
A new feature, Hemingway also lets you format your content for web. You’ll be able to italicize, bold, and format how you see fit, and then export writing in HTML format. It’s also easy to import Word documents, eliminating the hassle of copy and pasting. When you’re all set you can export a Word Document.
WriterKata
While this is more focused towards fictional writing, it is still a great tool for practicing how you think up sentence structures and storytelling. It’s practically a game as well, with simple and repetitive exercises (in other words, katas!). There are four stages: sentence, paragraph, sketch, and story. In each stage you’ll have a couple exercises which prompt you to write - you guessed it - either sentences, paragraphs, sketches, and or a story.
With each stage you’ll earn points, moving through the four stages. It’s a fun and challenging way to challenge your writing. It would be a great tool to use if you’re feeling some writers block coming on and need to take a break.
Grammarly
Grammarly, as the name implies, is also a tool you can use to check your proofread your grammar, and can check for more than 250 grammar rules. Not only that, Grammarly can also check for plagiarism, and can analyze general, business, academic, technical, creative, and casual writing. It features a spell check which can determine of the word is being used right in a sentence. This means it cannot only find misspelled words, but can identify if you have correctly spelled a word but used it in the wrong context.
Grammarly can be used throughout your web browser, as an app, through their website, as an extension for Google Chrome, and as a plug-in for Microsoft Office.The only downside to this tool is that Google Drive is not currently supported.
While it’s checking your work, Grammarly shows you errors one at a time, highlighting potentially confused or misspelled words in red. It will also give you a text box that offers an explanation and provides corrections. If plagiarism is detected it can provide citations.
Grammarly provides a free version or a premium version can be purchased at a monthly, quarterly, or annual fee.
Portent’s Content Idea Generator
Sometimes it can be hard to come up with an idea for a blog. That’s where Portent’s Content Idea Generator comes in. Simply enter in a subject and the idea generator will come up with a headline for you. From there you can create content around the subject and the headline.
OneLook Dictionary Search
When you’re writing a lot the right word can escape you. OneLook dictionary can help you out when you need to define or find a word. OneLook will find your word by looking through more than 1000 online directories and has indexed more than 19 million words. And, the interface is extremely easy to use.
To define a word all you do is use the search box. OneLook will find your word through dictionary websites, finding multiple definitions from multiple sources.
To find a word you’re simply typing a pattern that consists of letters and wildcards, which will find lists of words matching the pattern.
So you would search like this:
- blue* - Will find words and phrases that start with blue
- *bird - Will find words and phrases that end with bird
- Bl????rd - Will find words that start with bl, end with rd, with 4 letters in between
There is a list of example searches to get you started.
Grammar Girl
Grammar Girl helps explain all those complicated rules that the English language seems to have. If you’re interested in learning more about and improving your grammar this is a great tool that breaks grammer down into easily understandable terms. There is a website and a Grammar Girl podcast.
OmmWriter
Write without distractions with OmmWriter. Available for Mac, PC, and iPad, OmmWriter has a clean interface so that you can write without being distracted by web browsers and random thoughts. OmmWriter brings three tools together so you can write in peace. It provides a unique environment for writing and thinking, helping you become more productive.
First, the backgrounds. The background helps set the mood of your writing and is made to hold you attention. Next, audio tracks are designed to help you focus on the words you’re writing. And finally, to support your moving fingers on the keyboard, OmmWriter features keystroke sounds. If you found yourself getting distracted while you write OmmWriter may help you out.
While OmmWriter has no set price, they ask for a minimum of $5.11 to download the app. The average person purchases it for $7.33, but you can choose your own price depending on how much you think OmmWriter will help you. If you are frequently posting on social media, consider their other tool, Notegraphy.
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