ext_196911 ([identity profile] wylde-writer.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] writers_loft 2009-03-13 02:00 am (UTC)

while it should be possible to parse out basic grammar structures in that manner,, I don't think it's possible to (quickly) code a prog that picks apart more complex structures and things that involve judgment calls and subtle rules of usage.

In the example of my earlier post, for instance, in the sentence with the unclear use of pronouns: grammatically, there's nothing wrong with that sentence, so a program that analyses on that basis alone wouldn't spot anything wrong there. Even whether or not the pronoun definitions are unclear to some extent depends on the context of the preceding sentences. Programs are less good at contextual assessment of that sort.

Also, ultimately for one's own writing, it's critical to develop an internal feel for the language, to have that in one's head and know internally what "sounds right". The only way to get there, I think, is to do that kind of sentence analysis by one's self, the old fashioned way.

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