Really interesting article on the history and development of Microsoft Word. As someone who works in a technical field, I definitely understand and reap the benefits of standardized documents....
Really interesting article on the history and development of Microsoft Word.
As someone who works in a technical field, I definitely understand and reap the benefits of standardized documents. Having the documents be predictable makes communicating on the subject easier. Especially when you start dealing with a global audience.
At the same time, I agree with the author that many of the Grammer and writing assistant features in word removes the author's tone. For writing that is meant to be felt, I can see how this could be a problem.
I would love to have the resources to do a full study on this, but I wonder how many laws have unintended loopholes courtesy of using grammar and spell checkers which automatically change to...
I would love to have the resources to do a full study on this, but I wonder how many laws have unintended loopholes courtesy of using grammar and spell checkers which automatically change to "correct" grammar that alters the meaning in subtle ways.
I tend to forgo a lot of stylistic suggestions precisely because of this. I like emphasis. Funnily enough, while writing that it was suggested I should write "I like the emphasis". Which is...
I tend to forgo a lot of stylistic suggestions precisely because of this. I like emphasis. Funnily enough, while writing that it was suggested I should write "I like the emphasis". Which is correct, strictly speaking, but it isn't exactly saying what I intended to say.
Fun fact: the word we use in linguistics for sentences that are grammatical but don't work in a given context for semantic reasons is infelicitous, and it exists pretty much exactly because we...
Fun fact: the word we use in linguistics for sentences that are grammatical but don't work in a given context for semantic reasons is infelicitous, and it exists pretty much exactly because we needed a way to talk about sentences like this one.
Hmm that’s annoying. “I like emphasis” is a generality when discussing writing. The lack of the “the” implies the statement is more meta in its intent. “I like the emphasis” is presumably...
Hmm that’s annoying.
“I like emphasis” is a generality when discussing writing. The lack of the “the” implies the statement is more meta in its intent.
“I like the emphasis” is presumably referring to a prior topic or a specific thing i.e. you could say “I like the emphasis of colour in the entrance hall”, when reviewing a building’s architecture for example.
IMO, Grammarly seems to have taken a sharp turn for the worse with its suggestions over the past month or so. Before, my major quibble was recommending an excess of commas. Now, it keeps trying to...
IMO, Grammarly seems to have taken a sharp turn for the worse with its suggestions over the past month or so. Before, my major quibble was recommending an excess of commas. Now, it keeps trying to make my writing more concise and ruining the sentence in the process. Its anti-wordiness features used to be useful.
Really interesting article on the history and development of Microsoft Word.
As someone who works in a technical field, I definitely understand and reap the benefits of standardized documents. Having the documents be predictable makes communicating on the subject easier. Especially when you start dealing with a global audience.
At the same time, I agree with the author that many of the Grammer and writing assistant features in word removes the author's tone. For writing that is meant to be felt, I can see how this could be a problem.
I would love to have the resources to do a full study on this, but I wonder how many laws have unintended loopholes courtesy of using grammar and spell checkers which automatically change to "correct" grammar that alters the meaning in subtle ways.
I tend to forgo a lot of stylistic suggestions precisely because of this. I like emphasis. Funnily enough, while writing that it was suggested I should write "I like the emphasis". Which is correct, strictly speaking, but it isn't exactly saying what I intended to say.
Fun fact: the word we use in linguistics for sentences that are grammatical but don't work in a given context for semantic reasons is infelicitous, and it exists pretty much exactly because we needed a way to talk about sentences like this one.
That is what I meant, yes.
I was initially going somewhere else with my own point but that cruddy suggestion sort of showed up all poignant like.
Hmm that’s annoying.
“I like emphasis” is a generality when discussing writing. The lack of the “the” implies the statement is more meta in its intent.
“I like the emphasis” is presumably referring to a prior topic or a specific thing i.e. you could say “I like the emphasis of colour in the entrance hall”, when reviewing a building’s architecture for example.
IMO, Grammarly seems to have taken a sharp turn for the worse with its suggestions over the past month or so. Before, my major quibble was recommending an excess of commas. Now, it keeps trying to make my writing more concise and ruining the sentence in the process. Its anti-wordiness features used to be useful.