In another article we had seen the best sites on which it is possible to learn a foreign language on the internet, for free, with a sort of barter in which I can learn English and the other can learn Italian from me. By now trying to be more practical, we can take a step forward and move on to the next level.
After learning a foreign language, if in an oral conversation you can already make yourself understood even if mistakes in pronunciation or grammar are made, writing correctly can be quite difficult and mistakes are easy to make.
If there is no direct comparison with the interlocutor, in this case the reader, if you make mistakes in spelling or sentence structure without realizing it, there is a risk of being misunderstood or not being able to make yourself understood.
In this article, therefore, we see some IT support tools and websites that can help write English correctly, in an understandable way and that also work as grammar and spelling checkers .
If you write on the internet, on a web browser, you can install the Ginger plugin, a professional quality English spelling and grammar checker.
You can install Ginger for free as a program on Windows to correct any English word or text written on Word, Powerpoint or Outlook or as an extension for Firefox, Internet Explorer and Chrome.
Ginger is definitely the best program for checking text written in English on the PC.
As seen in another post, you can have a correction of spelling errors on your computer in real time both in Italian and in English with the TinySpell software that detects spelling errors while typing on the computer.
The merits of TinySpell are the integration on video writing programs such as notepad or Word and the ability to correct misspelled words without ever taking your hands off the keyboard.
It monitors the typed text and then warns the user of any spelling errors.
When it detects an incorrect word, an alarm beep is emitted and a graphic warning given by the program icon which changes from white to yellow.
TinySpell also monitors the clipboard for any spelling check on the text you want to copy and paste.
To correct spelling errors, click on the TinySpell icon or press the button that appears in the pop-up that presents the list of suggested words.
TinySpell is free but, if you like, the paid version can be preferred this time because it costs little.
The spelling checker therefore makes sure that no typing errors have been made but cannot spell out if you are writing well, with the right words .
To find synonyms, find the right words for a context and suitable for the purpose of the document or email you want to write in English, you should use the WordWeb dictionary.
For example, if you remain in doubt as to whether to use "then" or "than", you can find the definition with a single click, without ever leaving the application you are writing to on your computer.
This means that you don't have to change windows and thus lose the thread of speech or concentration, these tools can be used without having to open them in separate windows and integrate with writing software.
Another possibility for suggestions on words and synonyms and on the construction of the syntax is found on the YourDictionary website, an English vocabulary which has, for each word, the entry "Sentences Examples" which shows examples of sentences with that particular word.
To have a quick tool and quickly understand how to write a word or a sentence in English, you can use the Anki Flash Card program which allows you to use foreign language courses.
For example, by downloading advanced English vocabulary, you get, among other things, a word suggestion tool.
If you know the word in Italian, but not in English then you certainly need an online vocabulary and the best is, without any doubt, WordReference of which we have already spoken in the article "Translating sentences and words with online language dictionaries".
To find the right word in a given context and make sure the phrase is correct, you can simply use the Google search engine .
Basically, if you are writing a sentence, you can copy and paste it on Google.com and see how it was written by other people and if it was built differently instead.
However, this trick can work for frequent sentences, with a simple construct and for idioms.
In case you could also use the asterisk to tell Google that 'something should be here, but I don't know what'.
From the search results you should get texts that contain those words and have so many different examples with the right way of writing.
Once the spelling and vocabulary problems have been solved, after having written the right words in the right context, misunderstandings and gaffes can already be avoided, however, to make a good impression, a tool that can help and support the construction of more complex sentences can be useful otherwise you end up writing Tarzan style.
In this case, however, there are no automatic tools and it is better to go and ask native speakers.
The best application in this sense is Grammarly, which allows you to check a text written in English and highlight any grammar errors .
You can also check your English on one of the social sites I mentioned above, those where you exchange knowledge of the language, or, more simply, you can use a forum called Using English .
To be answered, just write the sentence or an entire paragraph of which you are not sure and wait for an answer that, surely, will arrive within a few minutes or a few hours maximum.
Another site aimed at asking for advice and where you can ask and exchange opinions from native speakers is CorrectMyText which is also in Italian.
To have a complete grammar check of the text with a better tool than the one included by the Microsoft Word Thesaurus, you can use SpellChecker, an online corrector.
The final step, the most scrupulous one to be sure you have written in an understandable way, is to use Google Translate in the opposite direction .
Let me explain: after writing an English text, you copy it on Google Translate for the Italian translation.
Although the Google automatic translation tool is still imperfect, there is no doubt that if you wrote in a simple way and without too articulate sentences, Google Translate will translate well and you can trust if you notice interrupted or misinterpreted sentences.
Finally, I remember that it is possible to chat on Messenger with immediate translation into the mutual mother tongues and that there are also more complex programs for assisted translation on Word.
