This weekend, I had a curious experience in writing my column on the Hill discussing whether Ukraine committed environmental crimes in the destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines and then lied to its allies while receiving billions in aid. While writing the column, the Grammarly program automatically ran to check for typos. Suddenly, a message from the company popped up in the box for possible grammar problems. It was actually a message about my need to support Ukraine.
I actually support Ukraine and, in the column, I repeat my view that this is an unjust war by Russia against a sovereign nation. Furthermore, it is being prosecuted in violation of international law standards and modern principles of the laws of war.
However, I do not look to corporations to tell me how to be a better person, whether it is the NFL, Disney, or Grammarly. While I support Ukraine, many do not in terms of either spending hundreds of billions on the war or supporting the underlying territorial claims. People are fully capable of judging the merits for themselves without corporate nudges in their morning lattes or edits.
Nevertheless, as I was working out the nits on the Ukraine column, up popped my corporate reminder to stay faithful to Ukraine — a surprising note in a column suggesting that Ukraine may have committed a criminal act against NATO allies and then lied about it.
Yet, there was a political suggestion where a grammatical suggestion was supposed to be.
We still do not know much about the conspiracy, and both Russia and Ukraine have been accused of “false flag” operations. However, a recent warrant issued by a German court is zeroing in on Ukraine as the possible culprit.
The message asked if I would join the company in fighting for Ukraine:
Once again, Ukraine had me “at hello” on the issue, but not from a company that I pay to check my spelling, not my political viewpoints.
After hitting the x, the company allowed me to return to editing.
Notably, Grammarly was reportedly developed in Ukraine by Alex Shevchenko, Max Lytvyn, and Dmytro Lider. It is now valued at $13 billion as a company.
I have written to Grammarly to confirm some information.
First, I am not sure if there are other political causes championed by the company through its editing system.
Second, I was not certain whether the system recognized that I was writing about Ukraine before inserting the message in the editing box. Ironically, the column was not favorable toward Ukraine on this issue, but the message still encouraged me to check out ways to support the country.
Third, I could not find any option to turn off corporate political messaging.
Finally, I would like to know if the company does business in Russia and whether such messages would appear for users supporting the war against Ukraine.
As a supporter of Ukraine, I still do not support Grammarly offering political tips with editing tips. I will let you know if the company responds to my queries.
Now, there is the final irony. When I was about to post this column on Grammarly pushing me to support Ukraine (as I wrote a column on Ukraine), the same message popped up in the edit box asking me again to support Ukraine (as I wrote a column on Grammarly asking me to support Ukraine).
This would seem to confirm that Grammarly is noting the subject of my writing and using the editing software to promote aid for Ukraine (regardless of the thrust or position of the column). I have never had prior such political tips appear in the editing box.
Once again, I fail to see why the NFL cannot focus on football and Grammarly cannot focus on grammar. Trust me, with my typos at 5 am every morning, there is ample work for Grammarly to do.
So you get to pay for your own indoctrination. Evil deed doers will do evil deeds. A fact finding investigation should be launched against the fact finding finders to see how much of your money was contributed to the Joe Biden campaign. They’re going to give it to you good and hard and you damn well better like it. They can do what they like but they have no right to drag you along for the ride without your consent. The NFL saw the light. They were afraid to stop the political commentary about racism all at once so they just weaseled out of it a little bit at a time. The bet was a bad bet from the start but they kissed the hinder parts of the weasels anyway. So sad to see good love go bad.
Food for thought:
Reading the good professor’s surprise, I am reminded of this:
I noticed last week that Google was storing every search I made on the Internet–even though I was NOT USING the Google search engine/browser for any of them.
I started a layman-style investigation. When I “googled” a criticism of a prominent Republican politician, Google immediately produced everything negative ever printed about him. But when I “googled” the same criticism of a prominent Democrat politician, Google AI immediately jumped in and stated that my “negative” and “subjective opinion” was found among “some” people, commonly “from Donald Trump and his supporters.”***
“Donald Trump and his supporters?” A phrase commonly invoked by media.
Did we ever have media or Google refer to “Biden and his supporters?”
Did media or Google ever refer to “Clinton and his supporters?”
Marginalizing a duly-elected president (by a convincing majority in both popular and electoral vote)- by likening him to a cult leader with followers– is more than eye-opening.
The control and manipulation of mass communications is a silent and serious threat to “our democracy,” -another buzzword “commonly” invoked to justify the subliminal messaging.
———————————————
***(according to an update just a few weeks ago, “Donald Trump led Kamala Harris in the 2024 popular vote by between about 2.3 million and about 4.7 million votes across contemporary reports; the narrower, certified margin reported later in January 2025 is about 2.28 million.” https://factually.co/fact-checks/politics/trump-harris-popular-vote-comparison-851494
According to the National Archives, Electoral Vote: Trump: 312 Harris: 226
(my reference to “Did media or Google ever refer to “Clinton[/Biden] and his supporters?” means, after they became presidents.)
Lin,
That is very interesting. Thank you for bringing that to our attention.
I tend to use alternative software and do not see a lot of things like that. A month or so ago, I was at the airport, used my phone to read the news. Found it mildly annoying all the ads and pop-ups. I do not see them on my non-mobile devices.
Mornin, Upstate, thinking of you and the weather.
Yes, I found it by accident, because I no longer use Google much. But my laptop was showing slower available space/memory, despite automatic storage control. So I went through my search engines’ “History” option, then the “clear history” option. When I did that under Google (even though I had not done any searches under Google for months) I found all my recent searches from other browsers–tons of them.
This is what Google has to say about it:
“Google stores searches from other browsers and search engines for several reasons, including
if you are signed into your Google account on other browsers, if your browser is set to sync history, if you have visited websites that use Google services, or if your computer has been compromised by malware or unwanted extensions.”
The interesting thing for me is that I HAD previously shut off “sync” options. I also maintain the latest and best software malware/extensions protections.
“if you have visited websites that use Google services,”
aye, therein lies the rub.
lin wrote:
“I also maintain the latest and best software malware/extensions protections.”
If you are not already using them, I highly recommend browser add-ins UBlock Origin and NoScript. I use NS at its most aggressive settings. It is occasionally inconvenient to need to test the ability of a web site to function acceptably well with some or all of its JavaScript widgets disabled, then remember those results for commonly visited sites, but to me, it is well worthwhile.
p.s. my security guy changed the “Import Data” automatic setting under Google settings. He did some other things I can’t discuss here.
It really is a “deep state” we’re living in.
lin wrote:
“The control and manipulation of mass communications is a silent and serious threat to “our democracy,” -another buzzword “commonly” invoked to justify the subliminal messaging.”
It is not a cure-all, but I recently found a browser extension (available for Chrome and Firefox) named “Slop Evader” that deliberately filters out search results that were created after the general release of ChatGPT from various sources (Google; Reddit; Quora; Stack Exchange; Mumsnet, Pinterest & YouTube, so far). Obviously this has limited utility for searches that primarily concern current events, but it’s a start.
tegabrain.com/Slop-Evader
I am frequently frustrated by the typos in this column, primarily because they have the unfortunate effect of marring credibility.
I believe that Professor Turley is a highly principled person who has put a significant amount of energy into tilting at windmills. Often, the windmills have won.
I have watched Professor Turley watch “his” party die an ignominious death, and he must be asking, as we all are, if it ever really existed.
He has done it with grace and good humor, while his initial contempt for Trump has morphed into a grudging respect.
In the past, he mentioned an editor. I’m not sure what her job description entails, but perhaps it could be expanded to include proofreading.
If a typo “mars credibility,” that says more about the reader’s abilities than the writer’s. Substance builds credibility, not spell-check perfection.
Interesting that you have a Ukraine pop-up looking over your shoulder. I admit I use the spellchecker from my IPad but use no grammar support with or without Ukraine pop ups and advertisements. I suggest dropping the grammar checks. Luckily I had some excellent English teachers years ago and we were heavily into writing papers on a variety of subjects and that seemed to stick. I still check and recheck what I write and an occasional error will still pop through. I prefer that to an AI program looking over my shoulder. It’s tedious sometimes but that’s my preference. You are quite lucid with your speech and I suspect you would do as well without the grammar checks.
Unhappy with being politically prompted? Darwinian selection, aka voting with your wallet, is a time-honored method of registering disapproval. Anyway, well regarded paid alternatives include ProWritingAid, and since everybody doesn’t need all-singing, all-dancing versions of tools, Hemmingway Editor has a place in the market, also. Good luck if you decide to make a change.
” Darwinian selection, aka voting with your wallet, is a time-honored method of registering disapproval.”
Yes, when that is allowed to work. Had much luck avoiding Google Search in favor of a competitor? I have been attempting that for well over a decade. Either the alternative is prevented from indexing enough of the web to offer any comprehensive results, or Google ultimately manages to starve them out (likely by suppressing any results that mention that competitor) until they go belly up, or give in and partner with Google. “Don’t be evil unless it will make you filthy rich and incredibly powerful”…
I encountered something similar in an email app I was considering as an alternative to Apple Mail. It’s beyond annoying, juvenile, and ridiculous, and tells us exactly who is doing a lot of programming these days. I swear – these folks are very literally brainwashed. It’s like a tic.
Suffice it to say I didn’t keep the software. Apple is no better in some ways with the inability to remove the ‘pronouns’ field in their own Contacts software even though other fields are perfectly customizable. It really is a disease, and at least half of a certain generation are afflicted.
James: Thanks for bringing up the “proper pronoun” game as well!
@lin
Honestly, if that’s someone’s preference, then go for it. Do not, however, trap everyone else into personal ideology, Apple. It’s junior high-level sophistication, and it is flipping annoying.
Amen.
James wrote:
“an email app I was considering as an alternative to Apple Mail”
I use ProtonMail for a mail client (as well as ProtonVPN to safeguard my privacy) ProtonMail just does email messaging, it doesn’t play an silly games. I just checked, and it does seem to be available for Apple environments. Proton also supports some other products that do internet data storage, but I have no experience with those because I maintain *all* of my other data locally.
I see it this way, if you are that illiterate as to need grammarly to function, you are probably well indoctrinated already Legally, we have been surrounded by this sort of trick throughout history. What astounds me is that we are aware of this but what can be done at this point? Pass a law??? have a DOGE branch to inspect all software? We have unleashed a monster through our reliance on artificial devices, such as computers etc. how do we protect true fact from the onslaught of propaganda no being sent at the speed of light?
Wow, “illiterate?” Is that really called for?
Yes, it is. If you have at the minimum a traditional HS diploma you should not need grammarly to assist with your grammar, syntax etc. I’ve seen ads for this sort of product being proclaimed as their go-to tool by people who are adjunct professors and business professionals. How is it that pre-computer programs such as this becoming available, we were able to communicate on an even finer level of language without anything other than a dictionary and a thesaurus? It illustrates the failed policies of our prog/left education elite.
Yes these half-baked recent college graduates should be embarrassed to admit that they rely on some software to do what their own brain either cannot of will not.
I find that, just as CGI and AI artwork is becoming so easy to spot by professional artists, so will these software creations carry that same smack of the robot mind that produced it. If I were to read such a resume or work done like that I would not consider that person for a position. It bespeaks either their illiteracy or their willingness to let a machine do their “homework”
Wow, “illiterate?” Is that really called for?
Wow… double wow! A sealion who thinks that is more entertaining than when it’s up on a stool barking while balancing a beach ball on it’s nose? Who called for that change in entertainment???
Sealioning:
Sealioning is a form of adolescent trolling where someone persistently demands answers to insincere questions to provoke a response, often pretending to seek a civil debate while actually trying to exhaust or frustrate others with no intention of real discourse. This behavior is characterized by a facade of politeness and a refusal to acknowledge previous answers. Often used as a tactic by whining Democrats in online forums and podcasts
Grammarly found at least three errors in your last sentence, including “true fact” and “no being”. Such proud Earthlings are Americans.
Are “true facts” any relation to “alternative facts”?
Are “true facts” any relation to “alternative facts”?
Sealioning:
Sealioning is a form of adolescent trolling where someone persistently demands answers to insincere questions to provoke a response, often pretending to seek a civil debate while actually trying to exhaust or frustrate others with no intention of real discourse. This behavior is characterized by a facade of politeness and a refusal to acknowledge previous answers. Often used as a tactic by whining Democrats in online forums and podcasts
“. . . indoctrinated already Legally, we have been surrounded by . . .”
Someone desperately needs Grammarly.
Honestly, with everything Turley has going on teaching, media appearances, speeches, debates, and maintaining a daily blog I’m not wrapped around the axle over typos or minor edits. I go straight to the substance. The intent is always clear, the reasoning is consistent, and the principles haven’t drifted over the years.
As for Grammarly, whether it’s helpful, intrusive, or politically tone-deaf, there’s really not much there. The story is the content of what Turley writes, not the tool he uses to type it.
OLLY,
Well said and I agree. I can read a article, column or comment and know or see where there might be a typo, read past that and still get the content of what the author was stating. Some people use mobile devices, can easily miss a key or hit the wrong key on a virtual key board (I miss the old Blackberry keyboards), or autocorrect puts in a wrong word.
I had a Blackberry and, while that keyboard made mobile typing easier, I still never liked using a phone to write emails or longer messages. I much prefer a standard keyboard and a computer.
That said, outside of a formally published book or a manuscript that should be edited properly, the fixation on typos in fast-moving writing like blog posts just misses the point. It’s the ideas that matter. We’ve become oddly lazy and judgmental, turning grammar nit-picking into a substitute for engaging the substance.
Turley’s work has been consistent for years. His message is clear, principled, and easy to extract regardless of the occasional typo. That’s what deserves attention, not trivial technicalities.
“. . . I’m not wrapped around the axle over typos or minor edits.”
Spot on!
The Chronic Complainers can’t even appreciate the fact that they are getting JT’s brain *for free*.
Professor Turley, I enjoy and respect your postings, so please do not take offense.
A doctor I worked for, told me the most effective way to get your message across was facts and simplicity. When you were done read it back to yourself preferably aloud. This way you find your grammatical errors by the way the document flows. Facts are facts and presented properly need no grammatical checking. The use auto correct suggestions and grammar checking on most sites are helpful along with a dictionary. In my opinion, today’s reliance on artificial intelligence in the schools, business and personal writings removes the original thought process and self-critique. After all you are using someone else’s interpretation of what you are thinking.
“Facts are facts and presented properly need no grammatical checking.”
That’s an odd statement.
Proofreading for grammar (the final stage of writing) is for the purpose of ensuring that your facts are “presented properly,” i.e., clearly.
Leaving aside any dubious justification for Ukrainian conduct in this conflict (and implied approval of the previous US Deep State operations that deliberately provoked Russia into the “invasion”) my comment on the Grammerly behavior cited by Turley is:
Welcome to your wonderful future of Artificial Imbecility, where everything you do on-line is subject to review, and also to manipulation if your postings or other activities display anything other than what the major manipulators (OpenAI, Google, their left-wing allies, et al – too many to list here) regard as acceptable compliance with their preferred narratives. My prediction is that won’t take very long at all before virtually all on-line postings are scrutinized for such compliance, and non-compliant examples are either blocked outright, or demoted in prominence to the point that no one will ever see them (most likely the latter, as it will be much less susceptible to legal 1A challenges). I choose to term it “Artificial Imbecility” because, to me, that refers to the state deliberately induced in the targets of the exercise, not to those deploying the mechanism. From the point if view of the manipulators, it is a strategy to achieve their desired end of complete control over public opinion and behavior that would appear to enjoy a high probability of success. For anyone so naive as to believe that that could not happen in Turley’s blog or comments, I would point out two things: WordPress itself could easily be made vulnerable to similar manipulation; if Turley’s column became significantly demoted in search results, readership would decline, gradually but steadily, to the point that it (and he) no longer exerted any real influence.
implied approval of the previous US Deep State operations that deliberately provoked Russia into the “invasion”
Was that provocation our getting Ukraine to surrender to the new Russian Federation the 3,300 strategic and nuclear weapons along with delivery platforms we begged them to surrender in exchange for our providing security? The nukes that had been pointed directly at Russia that are now pointed at us and our NATO allies in Putin’s hands.
Did our Deep State also previously provoke Putin into invading George?
Deep State also provoked Putin into invading Chechnyia?
Putin is such a patsy for being forced to go to war by America’s Deep State. Occam’s Razor is still available for use.
“Putin is..”
I see that the user formerly known as “Old Airborne Dog” continues to post facile comments evincing knee jerk support for US foreign adventurism long after his moniker has departed…
Last week on X, I typed the words “American Indian.” When the yellow line of incorrectness appeared, it suggested “Native American.” I wanted to tag Grammarly to let them in on my thoughts about it, but they don’t have an X account. Apparently, different views are too much for them.
welcome to AI…you will THINK, what you are programmed to think!
Non sequiter.
Quieter, piggy.
Ukraine’s GDP per capita is 1/7th Russia’s. This isn’t Ukraine’s war, this is the DEEP State, CIA, Swamp, Globalists War!
What does GDP have to do with a grammar checker software?
Don’t forget Biden & obama
Ukraine’s GDP per capita is 1/7th Russia’s. This isn’t Ukraine’s war, this is the DEEP State, CIA, Swamp, Globalists War!
Yep. Exactly the same as the earlier Putin wars in Georgia and Chechnyia resulted from him being manipulated. That old KGB veteran, Putin, is such a patsy for our much superior Deep State,CIA, et al. That fool didn’t learn anything in the 20+ years he was a KGB subversive.
Jonathan:
With all due respect (an emormous amount, actually), I find a lot of gramm-os in your work here. So I suggest that Grammerly is letting you down in multiple respects.
Jim
Ah the perennial school teacher in action. For some here, the content is secondary to the grammar.
In the absence of a single example, your suggestion is baseless, Jem. Anyway, did you mean enormous or amorphous?
With all due respect (an emormous amount, actually), I find a lot of gramm-os in your work here.
I have no idea what percentage of those here have their internal alarm bells set off by noticing grammatical errors.
I also have no idea how many of them just sailed past the point that this column is focused on: a company forcing their marketing requests on a customer after they purchased the product, with no way to opt out of that.
Column content versus perfect grammer: what shall it be?
We need to reduce and eliminate foreign entanglements. That doesn’t mean isolationism, it means don’t get all snarled up in other people’s problems, don’t create other peoples problems, and don’t be bloody stupid.
What does that comment have to do with Grammarly?
The biggest problem on this blog are commenters who can’t focus on the subject i.e., go off on a tangent. Isolationism?
Grammarly brought up Ukraine. I did not. Crappy, globalist infected sw is de rigeur, uninteresting.
Strunk & White, Elements of style.
On my bookshelf right next to the US Constitution and Bill of Rights.
“On my bookshelf right next to the US Constitution and Bill of Rights.”
Ditto. Plus, a hardbound copy of Webster’s International Dictionary, 2nd Edition, for me, so I can remind myself of what words meant before those meanings were the subject of propaganda in the form of wholesale manipulation of definitions.
And right next to my dogeared copy of Darrell Huff’s “How To Lie With Statistics”, given to each student in my college class in Statistics in 1956. It is invaluable.
All with unopened spines, no doubt.
Since you’ve mentioned this so many times, I looked up this retrospective: https://projecteuclid.org/journalArticle/Download?urlId=10.1214%2F088342305000000205
For those who can’t find or do not want to pay for the book, or who would like to review it for value before doing so, numerous copies exist at archive dot org:
“How to Lie with Statistics”
https://archive.org/search?query=how+to+lie+with+statistics+
And _Modern English Usage_, by Fowler.
Reminds me of the book “Shut Up and Sing” by Laura Ingram. We really don’t need the variety of corporations, actors, singers, sports stars and all in our face. It really makes some movies, music and the NFL no fun anymore.
There are always books to entertain oneself with.
What are books?
I think it’s great that we have all these resources to help in our mundane tasks but are we becoming too dependent on what our education taught us to do?
That’s assuming you have an education. Which is obvious.
WOW…. much ego Ano
Ah, the clown with two “collage” degrees. Did you run that comment through Grammarly? Obviously not.
A proper sentence must have a subject and a predicate, start with a capital letter, and end with appropriate punctuation.
Why does dustoff always puts his foot in his mouth?
Anonymous says:November 30, 2025 at 9:04 AM
Why does dustoff always puts his foot in his mouth?
One can only imagine what’s your’ve had in your mouth? I can’t help but wonder how Dustoff, Margot and the rest you insult found room in your frontal lobe with all that THC? Why not try adding rational comment to the blogs topic’s of the day rather then insult commenters?
I did not make this comment you fool
Ano did That’s assuming you have an education. Which is obvious.
Try reading next time.
Such tiny feet, such a big mouth.
Most of you’re comments are insult only. Which usually comes from teenager.
“Most of you’re comments are insult only. Which usually comes from teenager.”
“…which usually comes from an intellectual and/or emotional teenager, regardless of chronological age…”
That’s assuming you have an education. Which is obvious.
Energy prices going down is a good thing for the Democrat Borg’s missionaries who are sent here.
Gaslighting
Gaslighting is the intended psychological manipulation by a low-IQ perpetrator of those they hope to victimize through intentionally misleading that person or persons. This involves the perpetrator lying, denying events, and other methods used in the hope their intended victims doubt their perceptions of reality, memories, or feel overly emotional or irrational.
The main five methods of gaslighting that may be used alone or in conjunction with others are: lying, blame shifting, countering, trivializing and withholding.
Professor Turley, I gave up on Grammarly months ago. I use Claude AI to check my writing for clarity, grammar and punction. Here’s the prompt I use. “Check the following content for clarity, grammar, spelling, and punctuation.” Depending on the length of the piece I either insert it following the prompt, or attach it as a document. Claude finds errors and provides correction. It also provides reasons for its edits and recommendations.
I put my comment in Claude AI, and heres’ Claude’s response:
The text is nearly perfect. I found only one error:
**Error:**
– “punction” should be “punctuation”
**Suggested revision:**
“Professor Turley, I gave up on Grammarly months ago. I use Claude AI to check my writing for clarity, grammar and punctuation. Here’s the prompt I use. “Check the following content for clarity, grammar, spelling, and punctuation.” Depending on the length of the piece I either insert it following the prompt, or attach it as a document. Claude finds errors and provides correction. It also provides reasons for its edits and recommendations.”
**Optional style considerations:**
1. “grammar and punctuation” – you might consider adding a comma before “and” (serial comma) for consistency with your four-item list in the quote, but this is stylistic preference
2. “provides correction” could be “provides corrections” (plural) since Claude typically offers multiple corrections, but singular works if you’re treating “correction” as a collective noun
The structure is clear, the punctuation is correct, and the message effectively conveys your workflow.
A good idea. Grok and Gemini also provide such a service, though both take a bit of license in making changes.
“. . . four-item . . .”
?
I don’t use grammarly, but I have seen this in other Ukrainian software. The question would be, have you seen it before or was it content based?
Content based would be unacceptable.
other Ukrainian software? What SW?
Content based would be unacceptable. True, then don’t use it.
One that you can see, though it is French not Ukrainian. They will regularly show banners to support UA. Ukraine, like Russia, has many software engineers and produces a lot of software.
https://teuteuf.fr/
There are many chemists in UA as well. China benefited greatly from the war, because many companies switched to Chinese suppliers for custom chemicals (think R&D). UA had many farmers, but there were also many highly trained professionals.