Grammarly Tutorial: A Beginner's Guide

Become A Writer Today
18 Dec 202229:18

TLDRThis tutorial offers a comprehensive guide to using Grammarly, a writing tool that enhances English writing skills. Brian Collins, a long-term Grammarly user, explains how to set up the tool, choose the right version for your needs, and utilize its key features like grammar checks, AI-powered suggestions, and citation management. He also highlights premium features such as the plagiarism checker and tone detector, emphasizing Grammarly's utility for professional writing and content editing.

Takeaways

  • 😀 Grammarly is a key tool for improving English writing skills and boosting confidence in writing.
  • 🔍 It's suitable for checking emails, social media posts, blog posts, articles, business proposals, presentations, and even book chapters.
  • 🆓 Grammarly is typically free to use and checks for grammar, spelling, and punctuation issues.
  • 💰 A premium subscription offers additional features like context for grammar errors, AI-powered writing assistant, and citation management.
  • 🔗 Brian Collins has been a Grammarly customer since 2013-2014 and recommends it as part of a writing and publishing workflow.
  • 🛠️ Setting up Grammarly involves signing up with an email address and installing the appropriate app or extension for your device.
  • 🌐 Grammarly works across various platforms including computers, tablets, smartphones, and online applications.
  • 📝 It provides a readability score and suggestions to improve the quality and clarity of writing.
  • 📚 The premium version offers full-sentence rewrites and bulk suggestions acceptance, which can save time during the editing process.
  • 📉 Grammarly's plagiarism checker is a premium feature that scans content against billions of web pages to ensure originality.
  • 📈 The tone detector, another premium feature, helps professionals ensure their writing conveys the intended impression to readers.

Q & A

  • What is Grammarly and what does it offer to its users?

    -Grammarly is an exceptional tool designed to improve English writing skills by checking for grammar, spelling, punctuation, and other writing issues. It helps boost confidence and ease the process of publishing or submitting written work.

  • What are some of the key features of Grammarly mentioned in the tutorial?

    -Key features include checking emails, social media posts, blog posts, articles, business proposals, presentations, and book chapters for grammar and spelling errors. It also offers an AI-powered writing assistant, word choice suggestions, and citation management.

  • What are the differences between the free and premium versions of Grammarly?

    -The free version of Grammarly is suitable for basic grammar and spelling checks. The premium version, however, provides context behind grammar errors, an AI-powered writing assistant, help with word choice, and advanced citation management.

  • How much does it cost to use the premium version of Grammarly?

    -The premium version of Grammarly typically costs $30 per month, but the tutorial mentions that there may be discounts available through affiliate links.

  • How can Grammarly be set up for use on different devices?

    -Grammarly can be set up on various devices by downloading the respective apps for Mac, Windows, Chrome, iPhone, iPad, and Android. It can also be integrated into Google Docs and Microsoft Office applications.

  • What is Grammarly Business and how does it differ from the regular Grammarly?

    -Grammarly Business is a version designed for use within a company. It offers per-seat licensing, secure access for team members, and the ability to create a custom style guide for business use.

  • How can Grammarly be used to check the quality of writing in terms of readability?

    -Grammarly provides a readability score that measures how easy it is for readers to understand the writing. Users can improve this score by simplifying language, using appropriate words, and breaking up sentences.

  • What is the process for setting up Grammarly in Google Docs?

    -To set up Grammarly in Google Docs, users can visit grammarly.com/Google-Docs or search for Grammarly in the Chrome Web Store and install the official version. Once installed, Grammarly can be used directly within Google Docs.

  • How does Grammarly help with citations and what is the new beta feature for managing citations?

    -Grammarly helps manage citations by providing a real-time citation manager for supported sites like PubMed and Wikipedia. Users can generate citations in various styles by clicking the floating 'get citation' button.

  • What is the plagiarism checker feature in Grammarly and how is it used?

    -The plagiarism checker is a premium feature that scans written work against billions of web pages to detect originality. It provides a percentage score indicating the level of similarity and flags potential plagiarism with links to the original sources.

  • How can Grammarly's AI-powered writing assistant help with editing and rewriting sentences?

    -The AI-powered writing assistant in Grammarly offers full sentence rewrites and bulk suggestions that users can accept or reject. This feature helps to improve clarity, conciseness, and overall writing quality, saving time during the editing process.

Outlines

00:00

📝 Introduction to Grammarly and Its Benefits

The script introduces Grammarly as an essential writing tool, highlighting its utility since 2013 for the speaker. It emphasizes Grammarly's role in enhancing English writing skills and boosting confidence in publishing or submitting written work. The tutorial promises to guide users on setting up Grammarly, choosing the right version, understanding key features, and uncovering hidden features. It also addresses Grammarly's free and premium versions, with a special mention of a discount offer through an affiliate link, and distinguishes between personal and business use cases.

05:01

🔧 Setting Up Grammarly Across Different Platforms

This paragraph explains the process of setting up Grammarly on various platforms, including desktop applications for Mac and Windows, Chrome extensions, and mobile devices. It details the steps for downloading and installing Grammarly on different operating systems, integrating it with Google Docs, and using it within Microsoft Office applications. The speaker also discusses configuring language preferences and the option to disable Grammarly temporarily within specific writing applications to avoid distraction.

10:02

🔍 Using Grammarly to Detect and Correct Writing Errors

The script demonstrates how to use Grammarly to find and fix errors in writing. It covers uploading documents or pasting text into the web app, understanding limitations on the number of words that can be checked, and the process of reviewing grammar and spelling suggestions. The importance of checking individual chapters for long-form writing is mentioned, along with the various reports and scores provided by Grammarly, such as overall score, speaking time, and readability score.

15:02

📚 Customizing Grammarly and Addressing Writing Goals

The paragraph discusses customizing Grammarly to meet specific writing goals, such as selecting the appropriate language style and configuring citation styles. It explains how to work through Grammarly's reports on correctness, clarity, engagement, and delivery, and the importance of addressing these suggestions in order. The premium version's additional context and examples for grammar errors are highlighted, as well as the ability to add custom terms to Grammarly's dictionary.

20:03

🛠️ Advanced Grammarly Features for Enhanced Writing

This section delves into advanced features of Grammarly, such as the AI-powered writing assistant for sentence rewrites, the plagiarism checker for ensuring originality, and the tone detector for gauging the impression of writing on readers. It also covers how to customize Grammarly's writing style settings to ignore certain rules or suggestions that may not align with the writer's style or preferences.

25:03

🚀 Final Thoughts on Grammarly and Its Professional Utility

The final paragraph wraps up the tutorial by emphasizing Grammarly's value as a professional writing tool, particularly for blog posts, professional writing, and emails. It discusses the plagiarism checker and tone detector as premium features that can save time and improve the quality of writing. The speaker encourages starting with the free version and considering an upgrade to the premium version for more comprehensive writing support, concluding with an invitation for feedback and questions in the comments section.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡Grammarly

Grammarly is an online writing tool that helps users improve their English writing skills by checking for grammar, spelling, punctuation, and other writing issues. In the video, Grammarly is presented as a key tool in the presenter's writing and publishing workflow, aiding in enhancing the quality of written content and boosting the user's confidence in their writing abilities.

💡Writing Skills

Writing skills refer to the ability to effectively communicate thoughts, ideas, and information through written language. The video emphasizes the importance of writing skills, particularly in the context of using Grammarly to refine and perfect one's writing, making it more professional and easier to understand.

💡Publishing Workflow

A publishing workflow is the process of preparing and distributing written work for publication. In the script, the presenter mentions Grammarly as an integral part of their publishing workflow, suggesting that it streamlines the editing and proofreading stages, making the publishing process more efficient.

💡Premium Subscription

A premium subscription in the context of Grammarly refers to a paid service that offers additional features beyond the basic, free version. The video explains that while the free version of Grammarly is sufficient for many users, a premium subscription unlocks more advanced features such as AI-powered writing assistance and citation management.

💡Citation Management

Citation management involves organizing and formatting references in academic or professional writing. The script mentions that with a premium subscription, Grammarly can assist with citation management, which is particularly useful for writers who work with research papers or other documents requiring accurate citations.

💡AI-Powered Writing Assistant

The AI-powered writing assistant is a feature of Grammarly's premium service that suggests full sentence rewrites and provides bulk suggestions for improving the quality of writing. The video highlights this feature as a significant time-saver and a tool that can greatly enhance the editing process.

💡Plagiarism Checker

A plagiarism checker is a tool that detects instances of copied content in a piece of writing. In the video, the presenter describes using Grammarly's plagiarism checker to ensure originality in writing and to avoid potential copyright issues, especially when working with freelance writers.

💡Tone Detector

The tone detector is a feature that Grammarly has recently introduced, which analyzes the emotional tone of the writing. The video script mentions this feature as a useful tool for professionals who want to ensure that their writing conveys the intended impression to readers.

💡Custom Dictionary

A custom dictionary in Grammarly allows users to add words that are specific to their writing, such as technical terms or unusual names, which should not be flagged as errors. The video explains how adding words to the custom dictionary can prevent Grammarly from incorrectly identifying valid terms as mistakes.

💡Readability Score

The readability score is a metric provided by Grammarly that measures how easy a piece of writing is to understand. The script discusses the importance of aiming for a high readability score to ensure that the writing is accessible to a wide range of readers.

💡Goals

In the context of Grammarly, goals refer to the specific objectives or styles the user wants to achieve in their writing, such as formal, academic, or neutral tones. The video script explains how setting goals in Grammarly can influence the types of suggestions provided by the tool, tailoring the editing process to the user's needs.

Highlights

Grammarly is a key tool for improving English writing skills and boosting confidence in publishing.

The tutorial covers setting up Grammarly, choosing the right version, and understanding its key features.

Grammarly helps in checking emails, social media posts, blog posts, articles, business proposals, presentations, and book chapters.

The free version of Grammarly checks for grammar, spelling, punctuation, and other writing issues.

A premium subscription offers context for grammar errors, AI-powered writing assistance, and citation management.

Grammarly Business is designed for companies to provide team members with secure access and a custom style guide.

The free version of Grammarly is sufficient for new writers to find and fix more errors than traditional checkers.

Setting up Grammarly involves signing up with an email and accessing the web app for further installation steps.

Grammarly can be installed on various devices including Mac, Windows, Chrome, iPhone, iPad, and Android.

For Google Docs, Grammarly can be set up through the Chrome Web Store or by visiting Grammarly's official site.

Grammarly works across all applications on a computer once installed for Mac or Windows.

Users can adjust language preferences in Grammarly to suit American, British, Canadian, or Australian English.

Grammarly's readability score helps in understanding how easily readers can comprehend the writing.

The Goals section in Grammarly allows customization of the checking process based on the type of writing.

Grammarly identifies and suggests corrections for grammar, spelling, clarity, engagement, delivery, and style.

The premium version provides more context and examples for understanding and learning from the corrections.

Grammarly's AI-powered writing assistant offers full sentence rewrites and bulk suggestions for efficiency.

The plagiarism checker in Grammarly helps ensure originality and avoid copyright issues in writing.

Grammarly's tone detector provides insight into the impression made by the writing on readers.

The tutorial offers a comprehensive guide on using Grammarly for various writing needs and workflows.