Is there any free software available for english grammar checking?

Software to check english spelling and grammar

• I'm writing science fiction and fantasy stories in German and English. For the German versions, I use "Duden Korrektor" which uses Word and checks spelling and grammar. What software is there to check english spelling and grammar, what else do I need to use it (Word, Linux, whatever)? I'm running Linux and VMWare with Office XP, so I'm looking for free software which runs directly on Linux or something which I can plug into the German version of Office XP. Since I'm a hobbyist, something beyond the $500 price range is "nice to know" but of no real use to me. Also, I would be very interested to see how well that software fares from the users point of view (ease of use, how much it can find, can it be trained to spot certain errors, etc).

• Answer:

  Dear Digulla, Thank you for your inquiry. I am just a bit confused by the phrasing of your question in that you seem to already have MS Office XP so you already have a spelling and grammar tools in MS Word. If you would like to extend the capabilities of MS Word there are several 3rd party developers to meet your needs. ==MS Office Extensions and Windows based spellcheckers. Most of the software listed here is shareware so caveat emptor. AutoSpell http://www.spellchecker.com/personal/ Supported OS: Win ME, Win 98, Win 95, Win 2000, Win NT Supported Applications: MS Word, MS Excel, MS FrontPage, MS Outlook, MS Works, MS Outlook Express Price: $49.95/ED $55.00/CD. Not a shareware product. Extend the spell-checking capabilities of Microsoft Office without the need for purchasing separate dictionaries. With AutoSpell for Microsoft Office, you can add full-featured, high-quality spell checking that supports multiple languages at a low cost. It integrates so well with your Microsoft Office applications that you won't even know it's running. Supports spell checking in 12 languages, plus internet terms, custom dictionaries and more. Works with Word, Excel, FrontPage, Outlook, Works, Outlook Express, Mail and News, Exchange, and Windows Messaging. Download.com http://download.com.com/3120-2001-0-1-3.html?qt=spellchecker&ca=2001 Here is the top 4 user rated spellcheckers from Download.com. SpellCheckAnywhere 2.0 User rating: 100% of 6 votes OS: Windows 95/98/Me/2000/XP File Size: 3.38MB Cost; $19.97 From the developer: "Adds a spell-checker to almost any Windows program. Spell- checks in Internet Explorer, Netscape, Notepad, Outlook and almost anywhere else in Windows. Simply press F11 on your keyboard to spell-check. Just make sure the cursor is inside a text-area with text to spell check and press F11. Works in almost all Windows programs." Spell Magic 3.03 User rating: 84% of 19 votes OS: Windows 95/98/NT File Size: 909K Cost: $19.95. From the developer: "Spelling checker, configurable, fast, intuitive, powerful and centralized (14 languages and Medical) assists your writing and editing efforts. Use one system wide on-the-fly spell check. Fully documented, resides in the WIN95/98/NT System Tray, a simple Hotkey analyzes any word, paragraph, or document from any application, email program, text/HTML editor, database." Polar SpellChecker ActiveX 2.0 User rating: 58% of 12 votes OS: Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP File Size: 1.81MB Cost: $99 Polar SpellChecker is a 32-bit ActiveX (OCX) control that integrates spell- checking and autocorrect features into your applications. It includes dictionaries for nine languages (available at the developer's site) and an autocorrect dialog box with a customizable list of exceptions and abbreviations, and suggests alternatives for misspelled words. This version displays a warning dialog every 30 minutes. WSpell ActiveX Spelling Checker 5.8 User rating: CNET Pick; no user rating OS: Windows 95/98/NT File Size: 1.28MB Cost: $169 From the developer: WSpell is an ActiveX control (OCX) you can use to add spell- check capability to your applications. Spell-check text boxes on a form, and text strings, using either the built-in spell-check dialog or your own user interface. WSpell comes with professional-quality 100,000-word American and British English dictionaries, and you can use any of Wintertree Software's available dictionaries for other languages or for medical and legal terms. WSpell supports multiple-user dictionaries and can use dictionaries from other applications, including Word. ProgramFiles.com – Spellcheckers http://www.programfiles.com/index.asp?menu2=29 Most of these are for Windows OS This site lists several shareware types of applications. Two that may be of interest to you are Speller for Microsoft Office and Grammar Expert Plus. Speller for Microsoft Office 1.8 http://www.programfiles.com/index.asp?ID=14134 Windows 95/98/NT/2000 Shareware ($14.95) “While Office is shipped with a spellchecker that supports the U.S. (American) English and U.K. (British) English languages, if you need spellcheckers for additional languages, you need to purchase them separately. Speller for Microsoft Office allows you to spellcheck in 12 languages all with one spellchecker! With Speller for Microsoft Office, you can have a quality spellchecker that supports multiple languages at a low cost. It integrates so well with your Microsoft applications that you won't know it's running. Features : - Includes dictionaries for 12 languages: Brazilian Portuguese, Danish, Dutch, English (American, U.S.), English (British, U.K.), Finnish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian Bokmal, Spanish, and Swedish. Grammar Expert Plus http://www.programfiles.com/index.asp?ID=3994 Platform: Windows 95/98 US$59.95 CDN$89.00 “Grammar Expert Plus can check text you have typed, text and rich-text documents, and the Windows clipboard. You can install Grammar Expert Plus as an icon in the system tray, next to the clock on the task bar, where it is always accessible. Grammar Expert Plus is ideal for checking text you enter in other applications that lack grammar and spelling checkers. “ SpellCheck http://www.sharewarejunkies.com/8s3/spellche.htm Supported Platforms: Win 31., WIN95 Authors Name: Next Generation Software, Inc. Version: 3.8 Price: $9 Installed Size: 1.47MB This functional little programme checks your spelling, in any document you are working on such as a plain text, a mail, or a page of HTML. Launch it, and leave it minimised as you work on your text. Then right click on the SpellCheck icon, and tell it to check the document in the current window. And it does. It suggests words to replace misspellings, and it allows you to add to the custom dictionary, so that eventually you will build up a spellchecker that has a full dictionary for your kind of work, even with a technical vocabulary. Once the spell check is done, it quietly puts itself away again on the task bar, and you can carry on typing. ==Linux/Unix Spellcheckers In case you use a text editor that does not currently have spelling or grammar tools or you are trying to become a Unix purist, here are a few that may be of interest to you. Caveat Emptor. These are GNU or shareware and thus, may not be the most reliable, stable, bug proof, etc. Aspell http://aspell.sourceforge.net/ “Aspell is an Open Source spell checker designed to eventually replace Ispell. Its main feature is that it does a superior job of coming up than just about any other spell checker out there for the English language. “ As of March 2002, Kevin Atkinson will no longer continue maintaining the Aspell code. TeraSpell for Emacs http://www.firstlinux.com/product/Editors/101.shtml “Providing the technically most advanced spelling correction system available on the market. Fully featured superior correction, tremendous coverage, amazing speed, and wide support... complete with on-the-fly spell checking!” from a review by the editors of firstlinux.com The WordManager http://sourceforge.net/projects/wordmanager/ “A program that you can use for almost anything dealing with writing (except for the editor). Dictionary, spellchecking, thesaurus, validation. It will use current free tools and Internet resources.” This is another download from sourceforge.net. ==On the Web Spellcheck.net http://www.spellcheck.net/ This is free but there is a 5000-character limit. I hope at least a few of these resources are what you were looking for.