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Show HN: Refine – A Local Alternative to Grammarly

refine.sh

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Re: Show HN: Refine – A Local Alternative to Grammarly

#71

Post by zoklet-enjoyer »

projektfu wrote: post #66
physicsguy wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You still need to adapt it to where you are though, people expect this because it causes misunderstandings. If I as a British person go to the US, I know that I can't ask people to go and buy some booze from the off-license and when finished ask them to put their aluminium can in the bin ready for the rubbish lorry while wearing their jumper because that sounds anachronistic.

Not too mention that a jumper in the US is closer to a pinafore.

I'm American and have no idea what a pinafore or American jumper is. I know a jumper is a hoodie because I lived in Australia a while ago. But that's not a word I ever hear here.

Re: Show HN: Refine – A Local Alternative to Grammarly

#72

Post by FabHK »

dkga wrote: post #64
dreamcompiler wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Curiously, it‘s also a tell-tale sign that a North-American typed the text.

Just as a space before colons or exclamation marks is a sign that someone francophone typed it.

Re: Show HN: Refine – A Local Alternative to Grammarly

#74

Post by [deleted] »

smcleod wrote: post #39
Andrew_nenakhov wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speaking of which, isn't it time to consider American English to be the standard one? Colour and licence are so quaint.

Well, only Americans use it. There's no point in arguing about it your version of a language is better or worse but for the rest of the world it's incredibly annoying having to correct Zs with Ss when using LLMs or American only software.

[deleted]

Re: Show HN: Refine – A Local Alternative to Grammarly

#75

Post by FabHK »

raincole wrote: post #63
londons_explore wrote: post #27

> Powered by local AI models I worry that this will make my writing more likely to fail an AI coursework detector, which could really impact my life. The risk just isn't worth it till someone has tested the output through all the big players (turnitin etc.)

If I use correct punctuation marks my work will be more likely to be \detected\ as AI written; The risk just isn"t worth it so I never do that^

It's hilarious, on some other sites one is immediately accused of using ChatGPT when using the n-dash (–) or m-dash (—) instead of the hyphen (-). Not an issue with the monospaced font here. ETA: I stand corrected.

Re: Show HN: Refine – A Local Alternative to Grammarly

#77

Post by physicsguy »

projektfu wrote: post #66
physicsguy wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You still need to adapt it to where you are though, people expect this because it causes misunderstandings. If I as a British person go to the US, I know that I can't ask people to go and buy some booze from the off-license and when finished ask them to put their aluminium can in the bin ready for the rubbish lorry while wearing their jumper because that sounds anachronistic.

Not too mention that a jumper in the US is closer to a pinafore.

Yes, I'm aware, a colleague moved to Berkeley and relayed a story where he confused a lot of people :)

Re: Show HN: Refine – A Local Alternative to Grammarly

#78

Post by wkjagt »

Very cool product. And thank you for not making it a subscription.

> Can’t find the answer you’re looking for? Feel free to sent us an email at support@refine.sh

Should be "send". Especially with this kind of product, you shouldn't have grammar mistakes on the website :)

Re: Show HN: Refine – A Local Alternative to Grammarly

#79

Post by tobylane »

tossandthrow wrote: post #28
cjs_ac wrote: post #25

The 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…

I get this. > ... in 'full fat' English ... English is a bastard of a language and getting messier every day as new nations adopt it is their standard language. Setting the bar where it is well written and unambiguously understandable is IMHO completely fine for a 15$ product. Having a text spell checked to comply with contemporary Oxford English is likely not the goal of this product.

> contemporary Oxford English

If you chose Oxford because of the Oxford English Dictionary, note that it's not regular en-gb, it's en-gb-oxendict. "the OED often favo[u]rs "-ize" (and its derivatives) over "-ise" for words derived from Greek roots, and may also include historical or less common usages."

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