Grammar Checker in Pages '08?

[raluke]

I am tempted to buy iWork '08 but the killer feature in MS Word for me is the grammar checking. Does the new version of Pages have this feature?

Thanks,
-Robert

 

[devman]

Yes the feature is called Proofreading. I don't know how extensive it is.

 

[Mac In School]

I haven't dug around in any of the preferences yet, but I do notice that when I launch a new document and type the quick brown fox, Pages does not automatically capitalize The for me, or alert me that there is a problem, the way that Word does.

 

[devman]

Here's a pic (I can't add it by edting the above post).

 

[devman]

I haven't dug around in any of the preferences yet, but I do notice that when I launch a new document and type the quick brown fox, Pages does not automatically capitalize The for me, or alert me that there is a problem, the way that Word does.

You can get it to proofread as you type just as it can spellcheck as you type. You get blue squiggly underline for a proofread and a red squiggly underline for a spellcheck. You can then use a shortcut menu (pop menu) just as for spell check.

edit: re: autocorrect, there is a preferences tab for that and fixing capitalization is one of the options.

 

[TheAnswer]

I haven't dug around in any of the preferences yet, but I do notice that when I launch a new document and type the quick brown fox, Pages does not automatically capitalize The for me, or alert me that there is a problem, the way that Word does.

You have to turn on Proofread While Typing under Edit > Proofreading.

That said, I don't know how extensive the feature is in Word, but in Pages it seems pretty weak. It would catch initial capitalization and some weak modifiers, but would miss noun-subject agreement. You could type "The dogs is nice" and you get a warning that "nice" is a weak modifier, but no notice that your noun and verb don't agree.

So it's there, but not that powerful.

 

[xUKHCx]

I haven't dug around in any of the preferences yet, but I do notice that when I launch a new document and type the quick brown fox, Pages does not automatically capitalize The for me, or alert me that there is a problem, the way that Word does.

The auto capitalisation is achievable. Also there is a new option to search wikipedia.

 

[raluke]

Thanks!

Hi, iWork '08 sort of jumped into my hand when I stopped at the Apple store for iLife '08 this afternoon after work. Proofreading isn't the same as grammar checker but it's pretty nice software even so. Thanks for the info in response to my question.

Best regards,
-Robert

 

[Ice Cream Man]

'Grammatic' is a feature in Word that I have really been disappointed to find isn't really available in any other word processor. It really is a must-have for writing anything solo, for school or for work. I'm just glad Word is available on both platforms. Otherwise I'd be screwed.

For me it's extremely convenient to just set Word to watch for little details that pertain to writing in APA format. Like, use of first person, contractions, spacing after sentence, writing style, readability, position of punctuation in quotes, etc.

I guess those aren't all necessarily conventions of grammar so much as writing style/format. But it's a tool I find necessary, as a student, desk jockey, blogger, etc. Overall I would really prefer writing in Pages, it feels more natural, and it is extremely handy that it works more like a publishing-layout tool vs. just word processing. If it had 'Grammatic'/writing style editing it would be the only tool I would need. As is it, I type everything in Word to help keep my style and grammar uniform, and consistent across everything I write.