Automatic prose analysis tool

[garonne]

This morning I tried using an online prose analysis tool. Most of them you have to pay for, but I tested a free one called ProwritingAid. My only previous experience with this kind of thing was the so-called grammar corrections in Microsoft Word, which are pretty much 100% wrong. This online tool turned out to be a bit more advanced

Comments

[ride_4ever]

It's a cool thing to know this exists, but I'm glad you said it can't replace a good beta reader. (There are things that only the human touch can bring to the writing.)

[garonne]

I see it a bit like a spellchecker, checking for some basic mechanical stuff (like repeated words) that you don't want to bother your beta-reader with, but that your own eye just keeps skipping over when you reread.

[tinzelda]

Thanks for posting this! I've always been curious about programs like this. Not only for the sake of my personal writing, but because I'm a professional copyeditor. Good to know there's a potentially useful tool out there, but equally good to have job security. The robots won't be doing my job for a long, long time!

[garonne]

No, I think you'll be safe for the foreseeable future ;)

[taass64]

interesting!

[garonne]

Glad you found it so!

[tripleransom]

Cool, but like you say, it can't replace a good beta. I wonder what it would make of, say, Hemingway?

[garonne]

Yeah, I get the feeling it would make a dog's dinner out of prose by any writer who's known for his/her unique (and always much admired) style.