Grammar Checker Guide

A skill for using grammar and style checking tools to polish academic manuscripts. Covers tool comparison, configuration for scholarly writing, common academic English pitfalls, and workflows for integrating automated checking into the writing process.

Tool Comparison

Overview

Tool	Best For	Academic Mode?	Privacy	Cost
Grammarly	General grammar, clarity	Yes (tone settings)	Cloud-based	Free / Premium
LanguageTool	Open-source, privacy	Yes (formal style)	Self-hostable	Free / Premium
ProWritingAid	Style depth, reports	Yes (academic style)	Cloud-based	Subscription
Writefull	Academic-specific	Designed for academic	Cloud-based	Free / Premium
Vale	CLI/CI linting for docs	Configurable rules	Local only	Free (open-source)

Privacy Considerations

For unpublished research:
  - Check the tool's data retention policy before pasting manuscript text
  - LanguageTool can be self-hosted (no data leaves your machine)
  - Vale runs entirely locally
  - Grammarly Enterprise offers data processing agreements

For sensitive or embargoed work:
  - Use local-only tools (Vale, local LanguageTool server)
  - Avoid pasting full manuscripts into cloud-based free tiers
  - Review the tool's terms regarding data use for model training

Configuring Tools for Academic Writing

LanguageTool Setup

import os
import json
import urllib.request


def check_text_with_languagetool(text: str, language: str = "en-US") -> list:
    """
    Check text using the LanguageTool API.

    Args:
        text: The text to check
        language: Language code (en-US, en-GB, de-DE, etc.)
    """
    api_url = os.environ.get(
        "LANGUAGETOOL_URL",
        "https://api.languagetool.org/v2/check"
    )

    data = urllib.parse.urlencode({
        "text": text,
        "language": language,
        "enabledCategories": "GRAMMAR,TYPOS,PUNCTUATION,STYLE",
        "level": "picky"
    }).encode("utf-8")

    req = urllib.request.Request(api_url, data=data)
    response = urllib.request.urlopen(req)
    result = json.loads(response.read())

    issues = []
    for match in result.get("matches", []):
        issues.append({
            "message": match["message"],
            "context": match["context"]["text"],
            "offset": match["offset"],
            "length": match["length"],
            "suggestions": [r["value"] for r in match.get("replacements", [])[:3]],
            "rule_id": match["rule"]["id"]
        })

    return issues