This post is a guest contribution from Ananya Banerjee.
Spell-checkers have, in a way, always existed for writers and helped them write better. Earlier it was in the form of people who acted as proof-readers, who would dedicatedly go through massive amounts of texts to look for possible grammatical and language errors. And there would be friends and relatives who would do the same with a lot of coaxing and pleading, at times.
The creation and use of spell checker apps, add-ons and online tools has made life easy for so many people across the world today. People wanting to write a soulful greeting in a card, people wanting to express themselves through short stories or essays, and people who ‘need’ a spell-checker to get past their day-to-day written work. Also check out one of our previous article on Improving Writing Skills.
For all the people mentioned above, the internet comes handy and can solve most of their grammatical woes instantly. The usage of spell checkers for the purpose of writing could be considered lack of grammar skills on part of the writer. It could also be that the writer’s inability to avoid simple grammatical mistakes could make his or her talent questionable.
But one needs to realise that these spell checkers are not used to make up for missing talent. They aid us in this age of speed; the age where every task can be allotted very less time. A major amount of people use these apps and add ons in order to give their reader a better experience and, of course, increase their credibility too!
From among the hundreds of applications and online tools available on the worldwide web, here’s a list of a few that we found not just extremely useful, but pretty interesting to use as well. Here they are:
1. JSpell
The add-on gives you access to an extremely dependable spell check site. Apart from the free online version that you see on clicking the above link, JSpell also consists of versions for HTML, SDK, SDK for JAVA, as well as JSpell Evolution. These add-ons would prove extremely useful for people working as web designers and programmers. Some of the features available on the website are:
- 80 global languages available
- Several writing formats (US, US medical, Spanish, German, French, Italian)
- Option to print document
- Word count available
2. Reverso
Reverso.net is another reliable tool to get you going with your documents and all written work. The name signifies that the tool also aids reversing the language. Also, the tool facilitates the use of special characters. This tool lets you edit or add to your document even after it corrects it. There is no option to check the word count in while correcting the document. The website offers the following facilities:
- Option to work with US or UK English format
- Languages Available: French and English
- Punctuation correction
- Facility to check how the tool works, with the help of examples
3. Orangoo
Orangoo is a tool that several such lists online will feature. This free online spell check tool is gives you the option to spell check words, sentences, phrases and consists of an option to spell check entire websites too. Some of the exciting features of this tool are:
- Over 25 languages available
- Over 80 styles of the above languages
- Facility to check antonyms of words, on the same page
- Spell-check for web pages and websites
4. Spell Boy
The best thing about this spell check tool is its mobile version. This aspect of the tool increases the ease in accessing it. Also, one can work on more than one document with the help of the multiple tab function. The peppy and colorful appearance of the makes it fun to work too. Some facilities available on this spell check tool are:
- Ability to print the document
- Convert the text to upper/lower case
- Website spell-checker
- Multiple tab function
Another copy-paste format online spell checker, Spell Check.net has all the facilities one may desire while working on a text document. The spell checker does not feature many features, but it is reliable. Also, the corrected text (with highlights) is displayed on a separate window every time. Some of the facilities available with this free online tool are:
- Dictionary of phrases (with thesaurus)
- Antonyms finder online
- Over 80 languages
This post is written by Ananya Banerjee who has been working as a blogger with Meritnation.com, a leading online education website in India for the k-12 segment.