When writing a book, letter, review, or anything that other people will read, it is imperative to use proper grammar and spelling. So how do you check your writing? A professional editor or proofreading service would be a good idea for a novel. Reader's Favorites, Freelancer.com, and several other groups offer the services at a moderate fee. While I am not dismissing their value, it would be impractical to utilize their services on a letter, email, or short blurbs.

I used to be a fan of grammar and spell-checking tools and tried to use a multitude to check my writing. What I ended up with was nothing like the original point of my review. There are a plethora of them online and some even contradict others. I use the www.Languagetool.com add-on for spell-checking my work. The service works well for mobile devices and integrates with most documents. Unfortunately, it only checks to spell when you copy your work into their online page with the picky editor. If you don't wish to pay for the premium service, then it won't do more than suggest changing certain phrases from passive voice, change tense, and correct punctuation. Www.Grammarly.com is often promoted, but it also falls short unless you pay for the premium package. For a more interactive tool that offers style suggestions, www.scribens.com has an online free platform as well. I could continue with an endless list of free tools, but none will perfect your writing.

The first editing for any writer is their knowledge of grammar rules. I remember the endless hours in school with vocabulary and spelling tests. I know that I tend to have issues with the comma. Www.thepunctuationguide.com has been a helpful website with an extensive guide on punctuation. It offers when and why the punctuation mark's use is appropriate, as well as several examples to show proper use. Another extremely handy resource is www.thoughtco.com. There is a section on writing and I have subscribed to the free daily grammar tip articles. Www.grammarcheck.net (a subsidiary of Grammarly) and www.paperrater.com are amazing choices for suggestions. I found the grading provided articles to help strengthen the areas where I needed to improve my writing.

Armed with the above information, I should be a perfect writer, but nothing could be farther from the truth. The strongest recommendation I want to share is to put your work down and do something else for an hour or two. Then go back to it and have someone read the paper out loud to you. If you don't have anyone around, www.naturalreaders.com will read your writing out loud exactly as it is written. This is where I catch anything that I may have missed. If a sentence or word needs to be revised to enhance clarity, I can fix it. I always use a thesaurus to avoid repetitive word use. Nobody likes to hear the same word used in consecutive sentences. I have offered several options to assist with grammar and spell checking, and this is by no means an exhaustive list. I am always looking to improve my writing skills, and I hope that other writers will benefit from my experiences.