Is it Open Source?
Show HN: Refine – A Local Alternative to Grammarly
51–60 of 220 posts
Re: Show HN: Refine – A Local Alternative to Grammarly
#52The screenshot shows the (corrected) example sentence: > Sometimes I still make mistakes with articles and prepositions, but my grammar is getting better every day I practice. In American/Simplified English, this is grammatically correct. However, in 'full fat' English, practice is a noun, whereas practise is a verb; e.g. : > I go to my practice to practise medicine. The problem I have with this website is that it's…
So you’re saying that for most English speakers it was correct , and that’s a problem?
There are many different Englishes. I would bet that this tool does not handle Indian or Malaysian dialects.
British English is still influential over most of the Commonwealth, ie a large number of countries.
Re: Show HN: Refine – A Local Alternative to Grammarly
#53The screenshot shows the (corrected) example sentence: > Sometimes I still make mistakes with articles and prepositions, but my grammar is getting better every day I practice. In American/Simplified English, this is grammatically correct. However, in 'full fat' English, practice is a noun, whereas practise is a verb; e.g. : > I go to my practice to practise medicine. The problem I have with this website is that it's…
So apparently the tool is slanted toward American English where the non-word practise is properly treated as a spelling error like colour . If you use these words in writing for Americans and you are not a citizen of the British Commonwealth, you instantly mark yourself as arrogant.
I'm interested in this - I am from the Commonwealth and I do use those words, including when I forget with American colleagues.
It never occurred to me that this could ever be perceived as arrogant (even if only when referring to someone with a different background.) And I wouldn't have thought it would mean anything more than a certain language cosmopolitanism, lah ;) (Hope that joke comes through! It's been decades since I had much exposure to Malaysian English.) Can you explain why this might be, please?
Re: Show HN: Refine – A Local Alternative to Grammarly
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm actually Russian. The whole world uses American English, by virtue of US dominance in all important technical and cultural spheres.
"The only whole world uses American English" ... I think you might be living in a bubble. It sticks out like a sore thumb.
He is actually correct. I am neither American nor English.
Re: Show HN: Refine – A Local Alternative to Grammarly
#55Does anyone know how this compares to other products in its field, such as LanguageTool and Harper? LanguageTool can be hosted locally, and Harper runs entirely as an extension, so I'm interested in how the spelling and grammar checks compare.
I just tested both on the text "Look Dick. See Jane. Jane run home. I says you go home to. They eats dinner." LanguageTool does what I would expect. Harper does not. However, both whine about two spaces after a period. Edit: Alas, Hacker News also removes the extra space after periods.
Extra space after periods is never correct with proportionally-spaced fonts, which is why all browsers remove it by default.
Two spaces after periods is a kludge invented for typewriters that had monospaced fonts and touch typing teachers need to stop teaching it in the modern era where most writing uses proportional fonts.
Re: Show HN: Refine – A Local Alternative to Grammarly
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm actually Russian. The whole world uses American English, by virtue of US dominance in all important technical and cultural spheres.
"The only whole world uses American English" ... I think you might be living in a bubble. It sticks out like a sore thumb.
[deleted]
Re: Show HN: Refine – A Local Alternative to Grammarly
#57The screenshot shows the (corrected) example sentence: > Sometimes I still make mistakes with articles and prepositions, but my grammar is getting better every day I practice. In American/Simplified English, this is grammatically correct. However, in 'full fat' English, practice is a noun, whereas practise is a verb; e.g. : > I go to my practice to practise medicine. The problem I have with this website is that it's…
So apparently the tool is slanted toward American English where the non-word practise is properly treated as a spelling error like colour . If you use these words in writing for Americans and you are not a citizen of the British Commonwealth, you instantly mark yourself as arrogant.
Huge quantities of english speakers, who are not from the Commonwealth, learn British English.
Re: Show HN: Refine – A Local Alternative to Grammarly
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
So apparently the tool is slanted toward American English where the non-word practise is properly treated as a spelling error like colour . If you use these words in writing for Americans and you are not a citizen of the British Commonwealth, you instantly mark yourself as arrogant.
I'm interested in this - I am from the Commonwealth and I do use those words, including when I forget with American colleagues. It never occurred to me that this could ever be perceived as arrogant (even if only when referring to someone with a different background.) And I wouldn't have thought it would mean anything more than a certain language cosmopolitanism, lah ;) (Hope that joke comes through! It's been decades…
Speaking for myself (an American), when I read published work that uses British spellings and I know the author is American, it feels to me that the author thinks American spellings are somehow vulgar or improper and he/she is trying to rise above our shameful misspellings.
British Commonwealth authors (well, really any author I know to be not from the USA) get a pass because these are the spellings they were taught. Nothing wrong with that.
This is a phenomenon I've only noticed in the last two decades or so. I don't know if American students are now being (wrongly) taught British spellings in school or they merely think their writing will carry more weight if it has a British "accent" but it just seems arrogant to me.
The OED is a useful resource but it is not our dictionary of final arbitration. Americans should use the American Heritage Dictionary.
Re: Show HN: Refine – A Local Alternative to Grammarly
#59The screenshot shows the (corrected) example sentence: > Sometimes I still make mistakes with articles and prepositions, but my grammar is getting better every day I practice. In American/Simplified English, this is grammatically correct. However, in 'full fat' English, practice is a noun, whereas practise is a verb; e.g. : > I go to my practice to practise medicine. The problem I have with this website is that it's…
So apparently the tool is slanted toward American English where the non-word practise is properly treated as a spelling error like colour . If you use these words in writing for Americans and you are not a citizen of the British Commonwealth, you instantly mark yourself as arrogant.
> and you are not a citizen of the British Commonwealth
What do you regard as the British Commonwealth, and what variant of English spelling to you expect people to use who are not part of this grouping?
Just so that you know, in case you don't, "US English" is used just about exclusively in the US, and UK English is used in most of the rest of the world, despite the fact that most of our devices incorrectly default to US English.
Re: Show HN: Refine – A Local Alternative to Grammarly
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
"The only whole world uses American English" ... I think you might be living in a bubble. It sticks out like a sore thumb.
He is actually correct. I am neither American nor English.
Commonwealth nations tend to not use American English. They form a fairly major part of the world.