Smartword - a free tool for all writers

Posted by Hugh
Jul 31, 2012 at 07:27 PM

Franz, thank you.

The six checks run by the Pro version look as if they will be particularly useful. There’s a strand of thinking that says that software like this isn’t necessary, is no substitute for the human eye and brain, is almost cheating. I don’t agree. At the very least it’s easy when you’re writing fast, up against a deadline and tired to overuse particular words and phrases. Actually, there’ one of mine: “particular”. And another: “actually”.

IME hitherto the best in the field, apart from heavy-duty academic text-analysis programmes, has been Textanz: http://www.cro-code.com, but I think that only runs checks on overused words and phrases, not the additional screens that the new software applies.

Unfortunately, I don’t know of anything equivalent for the Mac platform, and that’s a little odd given the alleged writing bias of the Mac-user community. (Textanz claims to work on a Mac, but I haven’t been able to get it to do so.)