6 Websites That Improved My Writing Skills

For writers like me, whose neither first nor the second language is English, we find ourselves in the editing section more than the writing ones. If you are someone like me, here are some useful tools that I discovered during the lockdown.

These tools let me focus on the content without eating up my bandwidth. If you plan to start writing (Yay to New Year resolutions!) or focus on just writing without worrying about mistakes, typos or anything that halts your writing process — check out these handy tools.

Grammarly

This was the first website I discovered, and I am still loyal to it. Its algorithm picks the typos and adds proper nouns (or words you want to keep as is) to your personal dictionary. The free version is more than enough. It will identify far more spelling and grammar mistakes than your typical free checker. You can get tailored writing suggestions based on your goals and audience from selecting from a wide range of filters (tone, domain, audience, intent, etc.)

BEST FOR — typos, grammatical error.

Hemingway Editor

It helps you edit your writing so that your words are clear and powerful. It examines your words and sentences pointing out areas you can change to make your writing better. The tool works by detecting hard to read sentences, passive voices, complicated words and phrases, and even the presence of adverbs.

BEST FOR — avoiding long and complex sentences.

Trinka

It is a free web editor that makes your article look better in grammar and form. When Trinka detects any complex error in the article, it explains this error by citing the source.

BEST FOR — improving English academically (bonus).

ProWritingAid

This application will help you get a full view of your write-up. With the overuse and repeated words, structure options at the top of the page and its wide correction options, it is sometimes my second set of eyes to review and recommend more appropriate word usage. It covers punctuation checking, grammar checking, and contextual spelling. Not only are professional-level spelling and grammar checkers integrated with it, but it also takes the extra step of having a writer’s different writing style considered. Suggested corrections and flagged errors also come with detailed explanations, so writers also keep learning.

BEST FOR — If you want to look at more than just one corrected write-up suggestion.

Text Ranch

In the times of AI, it defines itself as human-powered. If you are not sure of the grammar or of the article format, it lets you have it reviewed by expert editors. Its free, fast and offers complete privacy.

BEST FOR — getting a real editor review your work.

Ludwig

Ludwig is the first sentence search engine that helps you write better English by giving you contextualized examples taken from reliable sources. It will give you past examples of the sentence you want to use — its source, place and purpose.

BEST FOR — understanding the past context to find the most appropriate use of words.

Bonus tip: There is a ‘text to speech’ tool which is quite useful that provides an additional layer before you press the hit button. In MS Office, it's an inbuilt feature in the review section.

I use the free version of all these tools that are enough for my needs. Do share if you have come across other useful writing tools which I missed mentioning.