By Sarra Chtioui
Last Summer, I was a remote content writer for a German company(that will not be named for confidentiality purposes). The job was to produce articles on the daily in various fields: Economy, politics, humanities, technology, etc for the company's website. As the payment was per hour, one was expected to take on several articles per day. An approximate number of 5 to 8 articles per day.
The production of a single article is no easy business, as a writer is required to do the appropriate amount of research on the topic at hand, produce a draft, to then edit and proofread it. This process is to be repeated with each new topic. Using Grammarly has a remarkable impact not only on the quality but also on time management.
For one, the writer has more room to focus on the ideas rather than worry about minor spelling and grammar mistakes, which will be handled adequately. That takes away a significant burden. Furthermore, having to deal with numerous topics from different fields without a break will take a toll on the writer to produce more mistakes, and even use a jargon that is not appropriate that was mentally stored from the previous article.
As a case study, an economic article about the rise of the economy in Poland, for instance, would take 30 minutes to read thoroughly and research the points that will be brought up in the article. Another 30 minutes are needed to make bullet points into coherent paragraphs. Finally, a draft is produced. Grammarly comes to play in the editing phase over two steps: after the production of the first draft, and after reviewing the final version.
Upon submitting the first draft in Grammarly, one may be made aware of mistakes in the format, grammar and spelling mistakes, word form and word choice mistakes, etc. It is a significant step to be overcome as is, but one has also the option to delve into deeper proofreading with the option of a personalized search for mistakes. Usually, an average of 10 to 20 minor mistakes is detected even for a writer with strong command over the language.
After correcting the draft version, the writer goes back to edit the ideas and finalize the points he wants to make. One may add, switch or omit a few sentences or ideas. That’s when the second step takes place. After reviewing the work, Grammarly would still detect an average of 4 to 6 minor mistakes in spacing and Orthography. Thus, the article is now ready to be published.
Evidently, Grammarly plays a passive role in the writing process compared to the creator, however, it is still vital to the production of a coherent, relevant and error-free product. Of course, like google translate, human competence is still needed to upgrade the program to the best of its potential. Nonetheless, even in its current form, it is able to play the role of a personal proofreader accompanying the writer, just like Trados to the translator.
