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View Full Version : Open Office grammar check do you want it?



matthekc
September 22nd, 2008, 08:22 PM
I have been using Open Office for a while, and now that I'm back in school one minor missing feature really bugs me. Open Office does not ship with a grammar checker and the plug-in available describes itself as limited. I want to see how many other people are missing this feature just out of curiosity.

uberdonkey5
September 22nd, 2008, 08:30 PM
I always turned off the grammar check in windows. Sometimes I WANT to write in the passive. I think its better to find a concise book on grammar ('scientists must write' is a superb read), learn how to use grammar correctly (usually we only have a few recurrent mistakes) and then type properly. Saves alot of time in the long run.

Maybe for some people would be good as an option, but I wouldn't use it.

P.S. the choices you give are a bit unfair. Want if I don't want to use a grammar check but I need one???

:)

Irihapeti
September 22nd, 2008, 09:09 PM
I agree with uberdonkey: the Windows grammar checker is obsessive about not using the passive, and there are plenty of occasions when I want to use it. I always ended up turning it off.

mister_pink
September 22nd, 2008, 09:12 PM
I once saw the lack of a grammer checker listed as an advantage of openoffice. To echo the sentiments of the previous posters, the grammer checkers are always so bad that they're far more trouble than they're worth. (Fragment - consider revising)

5m0k3
September 22nd, 2008, 09:13 PM
I can check my own grammar, but it would be a nice feature.

Giant Speck
September 22nd, 2008, 10:03 PM
I always turned off the grammar check in windows. Sometimes I WANT to write in the passive.

:)


I agree with uberdonkey: the Windows grammar checker is obsessive about not using the passive, and there are plenty of occasions when I want to use it. I always ended up turning it off.

I'm pretty sure you can change the grammar checker settings so that it will not mark passive sentences. You can also set it's strictness level, if I remember correctly.

RiceMonster
September 22nd, 2008, 10:07 PM
I find grammar check more annoying than helpful. I just like having a spell checker so I can catch my typos right away.

zmjjmz
September 22nd, 2008, 10:09 PM
While I would disable it (I know English dammit), it would be good for younger folk who need to learn.

the_darkside_986
September 22nd, 2008, 10:16 PM
I can see it in the future as an optional, downloadable plugin, with OOo3's new plugin architecture, but it seems like a bad idea and useless when MS Office can't even do it right. Marking points off and a lower grade would sting more, and thus be more effective in teaching the student to learn the language. There's no grammar check tooltip when speaking in real life.

aysiu
September 22nd, 2008, 10:27 PM
I think it should be available as an option but turned off by default.

If people like to have a grammar check, I don't see why they should be denied the feature. I personally would never use it (and never did in MS Word anyway).

NovaAesa
September 22nd, 2008, 11:05 PM
How about we get spelling working out of the box first? It seems the only people that it works for out of the box is Americans.

Whiffle
September 22nd, 2008, 11:10 PM
Never found grammar check to be helpful, ever.

Mr. Picklesworth
September 23rd, 2008, 12:04 AM
I once obeyed the Windows grammar checker, and it was the worst essay I had ever written. It's a lot like GPS turn by turn navigation. You can get lost in it very easily, and only realize how stupidly wrong the tool was (and you for obeying it) when it is far too late. For example, Office randomly crashes again - losing the Undo history - or the car ends up stuck on a pedestrian bridge.

On the topic of GPS devices, I have recently observed that a map with a good POI database is just fine without any directions at all so long as there is a little pointer to my destination.

lisati
September 23rd, 2008, 12:12 AM
How about we get spelling working out of the box first? It seems the only people that it works for out of the box is Americans.

More work for the good folks who work on localization of software?
Some of the people I know have a hard enough time coping with spell-checkers and auto-correct (or even pressing F1 for help). One group I hang out with use MS PowerPoint to make presentations in the Samoan language. Sometimes they leave auto-correct switched on, resulting in the word "I" being capitalized. This is fine for English, but not normally necessary for the Samoan word "i". Somehow it doesn't look right.

cardinals_fan
September 23rd, 2008, 01:50 AM
I find it more effective to actually learn good grammar.

teet
September 23rd, 2008, 02:36 AM
I like grammar checker in office. It helps alert me to places where I might have made an error...I just don't blindly follow what it says.

-teet

zmjjmz
September 23rd, 2008, 02:40 AM
I like grammar checker in office. It helps alert me to places where I might have made an error...I just don't blindly follow what it says.

-teet

Abiword does that too, but it doesn't try to correct it.

matthekc
September 23rd, 2008, 02:53 AM
Abiword has grammar check does it have any other unmentioned features? I just went and read a few reviews I see grammar check no where in them. I'll have to take a look at it and see what other features reviewers missed.

matthekc
September 23rd, 2008, 02:56 AM
What versions have it I only see the 2.4 in the repos not the newer 2.6? :(

Never mind I can google it was added in 2.4

matthekc
September 23rd, 2008, 03:14 AM
The feet are run people grammar an bad. Abiword doesn't see a problem with the previous sentence I went to options grammar check is on? I'm not suggesting my grammar problem is this bad but I sometimes leave two spaces between words when I type it's my most common error.

Sky Pixie
September 23rd, 2008, 03:21 AM
Grammar checker = Spell checker?

TBOL3
September 23rd, 2008, 03:25 AM
I agree, that the grammar checker is horrible. But I do like it. I occasionally make a stupid mistake like: Its a computer runing ubuntu (rather then it's a computer running ubuntu).

jpeddicord
September 23rd, 2008, 03:27 AM
Grammar checker = Spell checker?

No, a spell checker just checks the spelling of individual words. A grammar checker would check the word order and for clichéd phrases, though they usually aren't too accurate in my opinion.

Sky Pixie
September 23rd, 2008, 03:51 AM
No, a spell checker just checks the spelling of individual words. A grammar checker would check the word order and for clichéd phrases, though they usually aren't too accurate in my opinion.

Thank you for the explanation.

Remove one vote from "yes" and add one vote to "no." :)

doorknob60
September 23rd, 2008, 03:51 AM
Yeah I want it, although every once in a whil MS Word bugs me about it when nothing's really wrong, but I'd still like to have it.

matthekc
September 23rd, 2008, 08:39 PM
Well the poll has hovered around 60% for nearly the whole time I would have imagined a smaller number.

LaRoza
September 23rd, 2008, 08:40 PM
No. It cannot be write all the time and it forms an improper crutch. Like the spell check snafu's you see, but worse.

Gutt
September 23rd, 2008, 08:57 PM
Any spell/grammar check can always be of use... So yeah I'd be for it :-) .

Corfy
September 26th, 2008, 04:31 AM
Um, there is a grammar checker for OpenOffice.org, at least for some languages. It just isn't included by default. You have to add it yourself.

http://extensions.services.openoffice.org/project/languagetool

But I'm just as happy without grammar checker.

kspncr
September 26th, 2008, 04:35 AM
it would be nice to have the option.

lisati
September 26th, 2008, 04:41 AM
I once obeyed the Windows grammar checker, and it was the worst essay I had ever written. It's a lot like GPS turn by turn navigation. You can get lost in it very easily, and only realize how stupidly wrong the tool was (and you for obeying it) when it is far too late. For example, Office randomly crashes again - losing the Undo history - or the car ends up stuck on a pedestrian bridge.

On the topic of GPS devices, I have recently observed that a map with a good POI database is just fine without any directions at all so long as there is a little pointer to my destination.

I've heard of GPS units that advise turns into a ditch or a field, or tell them to turn at non-existent roundabouts.


No. It cannot be write all the time and it forms an improper crutch. Like the spell check snafu's you see, but worse.

Nice won!

matthekc
November 17th, 2008, 03:11 PM
So I downloaded open office 3.0 and installed language tool. I must admit it caught a few errors in a paper I had been writing. I was fairly impressed and pleased.