Friday, February 1, 2008

Adapting Google usage for checking grammar

I never had the feeling I was the only one, but somehow I never thought it would be so common. Yes, more people you imagine use google as an English grammar-checker. If Microsoft Word sometimes can't get the grammar on your document correct by means of rules, how does Google do it? By taking advantage of a massive indexed database of English language.

Type the sentence you are unsure about and depending on the amount of results, you will know whether more people have use it in the past (thus most likely grammatically incorrect) or whether what you are writing is pure and creative grammar-fiction. When unsure about two sentences, you can compare them with web app not belonging to google: Googlebattle.com.


When looking for new products, designers always look at alternative ways people use tools so they can be studied and perfected. How long it is going to take before Google adds grammar check to their google docs and completely makes Word obsolete?


update: I just found a website that demonstrates how bad MS Word's grammar checker is. Here a token:"[Microsoft Word] is so bad that I am surprised that it is even being offered and I question the ethics of including a feature that is this bad on a product that is so widely used."



Picture: Joan Brossa, "the key"

1 comment:

  1. This data supremacy is really Google's biggest strength. It is why they have the best email spam filters. It is why Google works at all. I hate to keep referring to iA Japan, but they have the same feeling as you about the potential for a Google "frontal attack" on MS Office.

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