Grammarly

Grammarly is discontinuing desktop apps

This entry was posted in Commentary News and tagged Grammarly software technology on February 20, 2024 by Gary McGath

It’s been a bad February for desktop applications. Two that I use a lot are going away. Twilio Authy, used for two-factor authentication, will not be supported on the desktop after March 19, and it may or may not work at all after that. People who don’t plan for it may find themselves temporarily locked out of accounts that use it for 2FA. On Macs with the Apple processor, the iOS version of the application apparently works, though Twilio hasn’t certified it for the Macintosh. I got it running on my Mac without problems, and I’ve used it for a few days. It works, though its user interface is distinctively inferior on a computer with a keyboard and mouse.

Be careful, though. There are fake apps taking advantage of the confusion; as I’m writing this, there’s a app called “Authhy” (with two h’s) on the App store, which I’m effectively certain is a Trojan horse. I can’t find any way to report it to Apple.

More relevant to readers of this blog, Grammarly is discontinuing its desktop application. According to the notice when I run my app, it will stop working on March 18. It suggests that users go to its website to check their writing.
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Three steps before submitting an article

This entry was posted in Techniques Writing and tagged Grammarly proofreading on April 19, 2018 by Gary McGath

I’ve gotten it down to a pattern, and I’m seeing fewer rejections. It’s always hard to tell just what affects acceptance rates, but submitting articles with fewer typos and clumsy formulations certainly has to help. It’s a simple three-step process after I’ve finished the article and think it may be OK.
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Can you rely on Grammarly?

This entry was posted in Techniques Tools and tagged grammar Grammarly on February 26, 2018 by Gary McGath

Mistakes in spelling or grammar can torpedo an otherwise great article. Grammarly is a popular online tool for catching them. I use the free version regularly to check articles before submitting them. It does a decent job at catching the worst of my blunders. It hasn’t impressed me enough to go for the paid version, too. It has its quirks, being obsessive on some issues and plain wrong on others.

Mokka sternly protecting a dictionary. December 30, 2008.

If I agree with Grammarly’s recommendation, I use it. If I don’t, I leave my writing as it is, or I make a different change. But I get the impression that a lot of writers take its recommendations as Holy Writ, and I wonder how much it’s affecting writing styles on the Internet.
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