Quote:
Originally Posted by fjtorres
Most authors I've run into despise grammar checkers.
There's a reason the term "grammar nazis" exist; people want to express their ideas in their own voice, with their own cadences, constructions, and expressions, regardless of what the rules may demand.
"Rules are meant for breaking" is the mantra of most good writers. The trick is knowing when and how. A "writing assistant AI" would go insane trying to reconcile the various styles of different writers, to say nothing of the speech patterns of characters.
Grammar checkers are useful for business or technical writing, where precision and clarity are paramount but for fiction, where mood, tone, and metaphor matter, they are counter-indicated. The more the software tries to do, the less useful it becomes.
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At least they are consistent and preaching well defined rules. Language today seems to be changing more rapidly according to cultural norms rather than a defined rule set which has traditionally empowered grammar nazis.
I am a pretty liberal guy. I always questioned why we use 'his' and 'men' as generic terms for people, but I accepted it because that is what my English teachers taught. I sometimes go back to that out of habit and people aren't shy to point out that I should use "they" and "them" even in a singular way. Spend a few years without keeping up with culture (outside the US, living in China for example) and you can accidentally step on toes. I know I should adapt and I try but it is hard when I was indoctrinated in different times (only the 90s and early aughts haha). Another example is 'gypsy'. I know it isn't great to use and I understand why. But I have always loved fantasy and gypsies frequently make appearances in my novels.
Anyway it looks like I may get my wish for localized 'AI' rather than something cloud based:
https://appleinsider.com/articles/18...-on-an-iphone/.
I hope this trends. More to empower individuals and less food for mega-corporations controlling all the resources...
-PB