History
The earliest “grammar checkers” were basically programs that checked for punctuation and style inconsistencies, rather than finding many actual grammatical errors. The first system was called Writer's Workbench, and was a set of writing tools included with Unix systems as far back as the 1970s. The whole Writer’s Workbench package included several separate tools to check for various writing problems. The ‘diction’ tool checked for wordy, trite, clichéd or misused phrases in a text. The tool would output a list of suspect phrases, and provide suggestions for improving the writing. The ‘style’ tool analyzed the writing style of a given text. It performed a number of readability tests on the text and output their results, and it gave some statistical information about the sentences of the text.
Aspen Software of Albuquerque, NM, released the earliest version of a diction and style checker for personal computers, Grammatik, in 1981. Grammatik was first available for a Radio Shack - TRS-80, and soon had versions for CP/M and the IBM PC. Reference Software of San Francisco, CA, acquired Grammatik in 1985. Development of Grammatik continued, and it became an actual grammar checker that could detect writing errors beyond simple style checking.
Other early diction and style checking programs included Punctuation & Style, Correct Grammar, and RightWriter. While all the earliest programs started out as simple diction and style checkers, all eventually added various levels of language processing, and developed some level of true grammar checking capability.
Until 1992, grammar checkers were sold as add-on programs. There were still a large number of different word processing programs available at that time, with WordPerfect and Microsoft Word the top two in market share. In 1992, Microsoft decided to add grammar checking as a feature of Word and licensed CorrecText, a grammar checker from Houghton Mifflin that had not yet been marketed as a standalone product. WordPerfect answered Microsoft’s move by acquiring Reference Software, and the direct descendant of Grammatik is still included with WordPerfect.
Read more about this topic: Grammar Checker
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