LINGUIST List 3.915

Fri 20 Nov 1992

Disc: Software

Editor for this issue: <>

Directory

1. Ian MacKay, Grammar checkers
2. Michael Earl Darnell, Re: 3.880 Review: Adobe Typemanager

I noticed in a recent posting concerning computer translation aids
that so-called "grammar checkers" such as Grammatik Mac (which runs
on the Macintosh) were mentioned. The uninitiated should know that
"grammar checkers" in general are very superficial devices. One that
I used (a few times, then gave it up as a waste of time) checks for
passive forms by finding every word that looks like a past participle
and then stating, "This may be a passive construction. You may wish to
rephrase this." This is not very helpful. Indeed, a recent issue of
Macworld magazine, in its "Turkey Shoot" feature on egregious problems
with software and hardware, mentioned that two commercial English-language
grammar checkers, when fed entire documents in French or Spanish, found
no errors, and one even produced a (totally spurious) readability index,
and an interest index.
 Ian MacKay (imackayacadvm1.uottawa.ca)

Message 2: Re: 3.880 Review: Adobe Typemanager

Just a quick, and belated, remark on Adobe Type Manager and Stone Phonetic
Fonts. The version I have has one major problem if you are going to work
on languages which are morphologically complex. The Stone Phonetic IPA
does NOT have a dash "-" so one must switch between fonts quite a bit.
The fonts look great when printed, but the lack of a dask can create some
problems

Mike Darnell