You probably know about ChatGPT for AI writing, but you may not know that it is also a remarkable free grammar tool.
As a writer like you, AI technology can sometimes feel like a threat. From what I have seen, though, it can’t replace a human writer.
However, it is an excellent tool for outlining and generating writing ideas and prompts.
But if you need help with grammar correction, spelling, or rewriting sentences, this is where I believe ChatGPT shines.
What is ChatGPT?
ChatGPT (Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer), developed by OpenAI, is an online artificial intelligence chatbot tool.
Since its public release, its abilities and human-like interaction have changed technology forever.
Some fear it, while others see the benefits of its abilities.
But whatever you might feel, it is a powerful new technology that is here to stay.
So, we will all have to learn to adapt and change to take advantage of the possibilities.
You have probably read many articles and news reports about the ability of ChatGPT to write ebooks, articles, and essays.
But the quality of AI writing is still questionable and limited in its ability with tone and style, fact-checking, and lacks the human touch.
While AI writing is open to debate, one area where it works very well is text correction and rewriting.
So many premium and free grammar checkers and apps are available online now. Almost every writer uses some form of technology to check their writing.
But if you want an option for a genuinely free grammar tool or writing assistant, keep reading.
8 Ways to use ChatGPT to check your writing
Because it is a chatbox, the starting point is to ask a question or make a request.
The terminology for this starting point is called a prompt.
You can use many types of prompts, and you will see some in my examples to follow.
Generally, you are asking for the chatbox to perform a task. But you can interact and ask follow-up questions.
One aspect I enjoy is pointing out that it made a mistake. It usually apologizes and corrects its error.
So what can it do?
Here are some examples of using it as a free grammar tool to check for errors and also as a helpful rewriter.
1. Correcting your grammar
Here is an example of a quick grammar check of a short text.
You can see that my prompt is, can you check the grammar and correct this text, followed by a colon and then my pasted text.
For all the examples to follow, you will see this pattern.
As you can see, the response has corrected my errors and listed the changes.
You can use longer texts than in my example. However, it’s best to stay below four or five hundred words. Above that, the chatbot will be extremely slow or fail to complete the task.
2. Spelling correction
In this example, I specifically asked to check only the spelling in the text.
Again, there is a summary list of the corrections.
3. Check a text
You can check a much longer text than my example.
But simply asking to correct this text is all you need to do, and then paste your text.
You can see from these three examples how easy it is to use ChatGPT as a free grammar tool.
But it is only the start because you can do a lot more.
4. Change passive sentences to active voice
I know many new writers would love a free app to change passive to active automatically.
Well, here it is, and it works much better than any app I have tried in the past.
The interesting point in this example is that the chatbot made a mistake and missed changing the last sentence.
You can see that I asked a follow-up question, and it apologized and corrected its mistake.
This is where ChatGPT really does so much better than a standard grammar-checking app.
You can ask questions for more information or to point out errors.
It’s this interaction that makes a huge difference.
5. Change the point of view
Here’s an ability that I’m sure you won’t find in any other free grammar tool.
In this prompt, I asked to change a text written in the third person to the second person point of view.
There are so many ways you can use it as a rewriter. Here are two more examples.
6. Change the register of a text
I thought this task might be a challenge for the chatbot.
But as you can see, it did a pretty good job of converting a formal text into an informal text.
7. Change British to US English
You might not use this ability very often, but the tool does a decent job of changing UK to US English.
The list of words at the end of the task is a handy reference.
8. Ask a grammar question
This is my favorite grammar feature of ChatGPT. You can ask a grammar question.
You can’t do this with a regular grammar checker, even if you pay for it.
Depending on your question and the response, you can also ask follow-up questions.
Can you compare it to a traditional grammar checker?
Like many writers, I use Grammarly. But it’s a little difficult to make a direct comparison.
The one big difference, of course, is that ChatGPT is free, while I have to pay a considerable annual subscription for Grammarly.
As for writing checking, Grammarly is terrific for longer texts or, in my case, checking while I write in my WordPress editor.
But the two big things Grammarly can’t do is answer questions or rewrite texts.
As you can see from my quick examples above, ChatGPT offers much more flexibility and options than simply highlighting errors.
Summary
With tools such as Bing Chat content creation and ChatGPT, a new future is here, and there is no way to avoid it.
When I first heard about AI writing tools, I was skeptical and preferred to ignore all the hype.
But in the end, I had to poke my old nose in the door.
I have to say that I still have reservations, in particular, about what the effects will be on the writing craft.
When you read news articles about hundreds of books published on Amazon with ChatGPT as the author or co-author, it’s a genuine cause of concern.
Hopefully, this trend will fade, or an alternative technology will emerge to deter publishing auto-generated content.
But in the meantime, there is no harm at all in using the chatbot as a remarkably useful free grammar tool.
I had a silly idea to end this article, but I wasn’t sure it would work, so I asked ChatGPT.
So okay, then, I’ll try some levity.
Take it from me. ChatGPT is a cool and groovy grammar checker, even for oldies like me.
Related Reading: How To Write Author Bios And Book Descriptions With AI
