🚀 go-pugleaf

After seeing the ad for Grammatik Mac 1.0 (GM from now on) in
MacWorld earlier this month, I finally decided to order it to see
what it was like.  They claim they have a 30 day money-back
guarantee, so I figured that if it reeks, I'll ship it back pronto
(aside:  MacConnection continues to amaze me; I ordered it late
Monday evening, and it was here early today).

The good news: it seems pretty nice for what is pretty much a first
(maybe second if you count Word Tools) generation grammar/style
proofreader that can read many formats including MacWrite, MacWrite
II, Microsoft Word 3.0, Microsoft Word 4.0 (more on that later),
WordPerfect, RTF, and Text.  It doesn't run like lightning, but it
runs at an acceptable speed for what it does.  You can create a slew
of preference files, each selecting different options.  For example,
there is a large list of classes of errors GM is capable of finding,
such as Jargon, Double Word, Cliche, etc.  As shipped, there are 5
sets of writing styles that each contain a subset of the grammar
rule classes enabled or disabled: General, Business, Technical,
Fiction, and Informal.  You are free to enable/disable any of the
grammar rules you wish to create your own individual style.  You can
go through the document in full interactive mode or in a batch
mode.  In interactive mode, GM stops at each potential error, shows
the text and its context, and describes the error and possible
solutions.  It also provides access to online help on the particular
suspected grammar problem, so you can basically jump into a grammar
book to see if and how you should change the text.  In batch mode,
you can just check for errors, automatically fix errors, or just
generate statistics.  The statistics generated are based on word
count, average sentence length, average syllable length, etc.  They
do give a general feel for the level of the document and tend to
point to areas that need repair or modification.  GM also provides a
comparison chart, so you can compare your document to the Gettysburg
Address, a Hemingway story, and an insurance form.  You are free to
change any of these yardsticks to one of your own documents.

The bad news: GM crashed my Mac the first time I tried to use it.  I
eventually traced this down to a problem in the Microsoft Word 4.0
module (the word processor document readers come in separate
modules, so you only need the ones you plan to use).  If the MS Word
4.0 file is on the same volume as GM, fine.  If it happens to be on
a different volume, KABLOOIE!!  I first noticed this when I tried to
scan a file on a different SUM partition.  I then tried to scan a
file on a floppy and the same thing happened.  This is not true for
the MS Word 3.0 or Text modules.  I have not tested any other
modules since I don't have files in those formats.  Obviously,
crashing is not a good sign.  I'm planning on calling their tech
support tomorrow to see if a fix is forthcoming immediately.  They
may refuse to help me, since I haven't registered yet, but I don't
plan to register if they don't fix it, since I'll just send it back
for my $52 refund.  Aside from the seriousness of this bug,
functionally, GM has several problems, most of which I expected.
Luckily you can turn off many of the rule classes that give trouble,
like Gender Specific (this works too well, even when you really
_mean_ he or him).  However, given its price and database size, I
didn't expect a full semantic processor :-).  However, it does fail
on some other phrases that it shouldn't.  One that springs to mind
is "I've overcome".  GM complained that I didn't use the proper
tense after "have".  It clearly did not have "overcome" in a lookup
table and the word did not match whatever template GM uses to
determine verb tense.

Overall, GM seems worth the money (except for the bomb, which lowers
its worth to zero).  For $52, I didn't expect the world.  It does
seem to catch a lot of common errors (I should probably run this
article through it :-).  It is configurable, has good online help,
and a nice interface.  The scan speed is slow enough that you
wouldn't want to run it over anything but a final draft of anything
more than 10 or so pages.  Smaller than that and you might want to
run it more frequently.

That's about all I have to say on Grammatik Mac for now.  If
Reference Software fixes the nasty bug I described above, I'll let
you all know (as well as how long it takes...).  If I decide to keep
it, I'll give a more detailed review after I've used it on some
upcoming papers.
--
Mark Nagel
UC Irvine Department of ICS   +----------------------------------------+
ARPA: nagel@ics.uci.edu       | Charisma doesn't have jelly in the     |
UUCP: ucbvax!ucivax!nagel     | middle.  -- Jim Ignatowski             |