How do I find and correct the mistakes in a sentence?+
Paste the sentence — or a whole paragraph — and every grammar, spelling and punctuation mistake is highlighted in colour with a one-click correction. It works just as well for a single exercise sentence as for a full essay.
How can I check if a sentence is grammatically correct?+
Paste it in. If nothing gets highlighted, the sentence passes 6,000+ grammar, spelling and punctuation rules. You also get a tone read and a readability score, so you know it makes sense — not just that it is technically correct.
What grammar rules does this checker use?+
The checker uses LanguageTool, an open-source grammar engine with over 6,000 linguistic rules for English alone. It catches grammar errors (subject-verb disagreement, wrong tense, incorrect pronoun case such as 'between you and I', dangling modifiers), spelling mistakes including confusable homophones ('their/there/they're', 'affect/effect', 'its/it's') that a basic spell-checker misses, punctuation errors (missing commas, incorrect apostrophes, run-on sentences, missing Oxford commas) and style suggestions (passive voice, wordy phrases, clichés, redundant intensifiers like 'very unique'). LanguageTool operates in over 30 languages and powers the browser extension used by over 10 million people worldwide.
What is the difference between grammar errors and style errors?+
Grammar errors are objective rule violations — subject-verb disagreement, wrong pronoun case, incorrect tense, dangling modifiers. They make your writing technically incorrect and should almost always be fixed. Style errors are subjective suggestions: overly long sentences, excessive passive voice, vague words, redundant phrases or clichés. Style errors are recommendations — you may choose to ignore them depending on your audience and purpose. For example, passive voice is flagged as a style issue but is perfectly acceptable in scientific writing or when the actor is unknown.
What is passive voice and why does it matter?+
Passive voice constructs a sentence so the subject receives the action rather than performing it. Active: 'The manager approved the budget.' Passive: 'The budget was approved by the manager.' Passive voice adds words without adding meaning, making writing feel indirect, wordy and harder to follow. However, passive voice is acceptable when the actor is unknown ('The package was stolen'), unimportant ('The data was collected over six months'), or in scientific writing where method matters more than who performed it. Our passive voice detector highlights these constructions so you can decide which to rewrite.
What are writing goals and how do they help?+
Writing goals let you tell the checker what kind of text you are writing. Email prioritises clarity and conciseness, flagging overly long sentences and cold formal language. Essay applies academic writing standards, flagging informal contractions and imprecise language. Blog balances readability with engagement, flagging passive voice and complex sentences. Business enforces professional formal tone, flagging ambiguous language and hedging words. Creative relaxes many style rules intentionally broken in fiction and poetry. General applies all rules with equal weight. Selecting the right goal makes feedback more relevant and actionable.
What does the readability score mean?+
The readability score approximates the Flesch Reading Ease formula, rated 0 to 100. A score of 80-90 is conversational and very easy to read. 70-80 is ideal for most audiences, readable by a 13-year-old. 60-70 is standard for informational web content. Below 50 is college-level or technical writing. The score is affected by average sentence length (shorter sentences score higher) and average word length (simpler words score higher). Most web content should target 60-70. The score updates in real time as you edit.
What grammar rules does LanguageTool check and how is it different from a spell-checker?+
A basic spell-checker only flags words not found in its dictionary. LanguageTool goes much further — it analyses the grammatical structure of each sentence to catch errors a dictionary can't detect:
Grammar errors: Subject-verb disagreement ("The team are playing" vs "The team is playing"), wrong tense, incorrect pronoun case ("between you and I" → "between you and me"), dangling modifiers, split infinitives.
Spelling errors: Misspelled words, including confusable homophones ("their/there/they're", "affect/effect", "its/it's") that a simple spell-checker would miss because both words exist.
Punctuation errors: Missing commas after introductory clauses, incorrect apostrophe use, run-on sentences, missing Oxford commas.
Style suggestions: Passive voice, wordy phrases ("in order to" → "to"), clichés, redundant intensifiers ("very unique"), double negatives, informal language in formal contexts.
LanguageTool maintains over 6,000 rules for English and operates in over 30 languages, making it one of the most comprehensive free grammar engines available.
What are writing goals and which one should I choose?+
Writing goals help focus the grammar checker's feedback on what matters most for your specific type of text:
📧 Email — Prioritises clarity and conciseness. Flags overly long sentences and formal language that feels cold for email context. Good for business emails, customer support and newsletters.
🎓 Essay — Applies academic writing standards. Flags informal contractions, first-person overuse (in formal essays) and imprecise language. Good for university assignments and academic papers.
📰 Blog Post — Balances readability with engagement. Flags passive voice and complex sentences that hurt web readability scores. Good for content marketing.
💼 Business — Professional formal tone. Flags ambiguous language, hedging words and unclear structure. Good for reports, proposals and presentations.
🎨 Creative — Relaxes many style rules intentionally broken in fiction, poetry and creative non-fiction. Still catches genuine grammar errors.
📝 General — All rules active with equal weight. Best when you're unsure.
What is passive voice, why is it flagged, and when is it acceptable?+
Passive voice occurs when the sentence's subject receives the action rather than performing it:
Active: "The manager approved the budget." (subject acts)
Passive: "The budget was approved by the manager." (subject receives action)
Why it's flagged: Passive voice adds words without adding meaning. "The budget was approved" is 4 words; "The manager approved the budget" is 5 words but tells you who did it. Excessive passive voice makes writing feel bureaucratic, evasive and harder to follow.
When passive voice is acceptable:
• When the actor is unknown: "The package was stolen."
• When the actor is unimportant: "The data was collected over six months."
• Scientific writing, where the method matters more than who performed it: "The samples were centrifuged at 3000 rpm."
• Formal policy writing: "Employees are required to..."
Rule of thumb: If you can name who did the action and it adds value, use active voice. If the actor is irrelevant or unknown, passive is fine.
What are adverbs and why does the checker flag them?+
Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives or other adverbs. Many end in -ly: quickly, slightly, extremely, honestly, basically, literally. The checker flags -ly adverbs as a writing quality reminder — not as hard errors.
Why adverbs can weaken writing:
An adverb is often a sign that the verb or adjective it modifies isn't strong enough. "He ran quickly" can become "He sprinted." "She was extremely happy" can become "She was ecstatic." Replacing an adverb with a stronger, more specific word almost always produces clearer, more vivid writing.
Adverbs to watch especially:
• "Very" and "really" — almost always replaceable: "very important" → "critical"; "really fast" → "rapid"
• "Basically," "essentially," "literally" used as filler at the start of sentences
• Adverbs that contradict the verb: "smiled happily," "shouted loudly" — the verb already implies the adverb
When adverbs are fine: technical writing, dialogue ("she said quietly"), and cases where the specific degree genuinely matters.
How does the overused word finder work and what should I do about it?+
The overused word finder counts how many times each significant word (4+ letters, excluding common stop words like "the", "that", "with") appears in your text. Words appearing 3 or more times are flagged.
Why word repetition matters: Repeating the same word within a short passage is one of the most common and easiest-to-fix signs of weak writing. It's especially noticeable to readers even if they don't consciously identify it.
What to do with flagged words:
1. Check if the repetition is intentional: rhetorical repetition for emphasis is a valid stylistic choice.
2. If not intentional, find synonyms. Use a thesaurus for the most repeated words.
3. Sometimes repetition can be eliminated by restructuring the sentence entirely.
4. Some technical documents legitimately repeat key terms for precision and shouldn't be paraphrased.
Common offenders: "important," "significant," "use," "provide," "ensure," "process," "approach." These are vague placeholder words that often indicate the sentence could be more specific.