I have been editing my work-in-progress, and I cranked up Microsoft Word’s capabilities to aid in that task. In short, it’s checking to see if I’m making mistakes in a wider universe of writing tasks. I have run across an annoying reflection of what I can only assume is the age and experience of the programmers writing these tools.

I thought ‘call,’ in this context was a verb.

This post is part of Linda G. Hill’s fun weekly series One-Liner Wednesday. If you have a one-liner, and would like to join in on the fun, you can follow this link to participate and to see the one-liners from the other participants.

All five of my current books are now available in audio book form thanks to Amazon KDP’s Virtual Voice process. The voice is AI generated, but I can honestly say, it’s pretty darn good. The audio books are reasonably priced (all below $7 US) and, if you already own the Kindle version and want to add an audio version, you can do that for $1.99. There is a five-minute sample on the book page for each book. If you’re interested, click on any of the Dreamer’s Alliance book links below the image or on the link below for my latest book.

Bridge to Nowhere

69 responses to “Times Have Changed – 1LinerWeds”

  1. I wish you had elaborated a little on how you made M. Word do this…

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I’m using Word from an Office 365 subscription (so it’s up to date). I tweaked the settings under:

      File
      Options
      Proofing
      Writing Style
      Grammar and Refinements
      Grammar & Refinements
      Grammar

      Liked by 1 person

  2. Spring has sprung in CT! I can imagine Word wouldn’t like that one. :-) Who knew we would be working outside in a t-shirt the first part of April? :-)

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I know! Monday morning I walked in a winter coat with a knit hat and gloves. Today I walked in a baseball cap and a lightweight vest. I guess yesterday was spring. I hope you’re having a good week, Judy.

      Liked by 1 person

  3. The pictures made me think of “The Call of the Wild.”

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I’m glad you enjoyed them GP. As much as I like bare trees, it’s good to see some life.

      Liked by 1 person

    1. Not to worry, the bunnies are coming.

      Liked by 1 person

  4. Love the cat photo, Dan! Reminds me of my Misty peering outside just before he takes his leashed walk every morning. :-)

    Liked by 1 person

    1. We’ve never managed to get our cats on a leash, Dave. This one likes to look out every now and then. She has a look and a meow that clearly says: “Open the door, human.”

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Ha! It took some training, and also took some luck to have a cat willing to be harnessed and leashed. Misty finds it worth it to get out of our relatively small apartment once a day.

        Liked by 1 person

  5. Picture the painting “The Scream.” That is my reaction to the “correction.” A help it’s not. But I think you are exactly right that it’s a sign that times have changed — but then Bob Dylan warned us long ago.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. He did – we just never imagined how much the times would change (and that we’d be around to see something like this).

      Liked by 1 person

  6. Don’t try Zack gave Abbie a ring “I’ll be going……..I can see diodes exploding 😂

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Hahaha – You’re teasing the grammar-bots, Brian. Thanks for making me laugh.

      Liked by 1 person

  7. I love seeing spring arrive. Looks like the wildlife does too!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I’m glad you like the picture, Mae. Things seem to be waking up around here, and it’s very good to see it.

      Liked by 1 person

  8. I’ve noticed the same thing lately about built-in grammar checkers, which I turn off if I’m able to find a setting for it.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Grammar is not my strong suit, LIz, so I crank them up when I’m trying to edit. I can opt to click “Don’t check for this in the future” but I don’t know what “this” is. Will that cause it to ignore the cases where I do need a verb? Sometimes, in my attempt to cut words, I go a little too far with the cursor. It’s just amazing to see what I can only guess are the assumptions being built into these algorithms.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. I think the biggest difficulty with automated grammar checkers is that English is such an idiosyncratic language. For ever grammar rule, there is an exception, some of which depend on context. And you’re right that if we don’t know the name of a particular grammatical construction (the “this”), we can’t look it up when we check our work for grammatical correctness. I like the following “Essentials” approach taken by the Excelsior Online Writing Lab. https://owl.excelsior.edu/grammar-essentials/.

        Like

  9. I’ve never used a text editor like the one you have. Going by what you showed here, it’s probably just as well that I don’t try one.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. This is just the standard stuff, Ally, albeit I’m letting it dip into its built-in stash of steroids. Not recommended.

      Liked by 1 person

  10. Murphy’s Law Avatar
    Murphy’s Law

    Somebody needs to check the grammar checkers!

    LOVE MiMi looking outside to see if she’s missing anything!

    Yep, area around the river needs some serious cleanup.

    Your Forsythia looks fantastic. Mine only has a few blossoms here and there.

    How thoughtful of the bunny to let you know when their dish needs fresh water! Too funny.

    Enjoy this warm spell Dan. Sit down, relax, and watch your weeds grow…I mean grass! 🤗
    Ginger

    Liked by 1 person

    1. We do let the weeds grow, Ginger. The bunnies love those “weeds” – we get snooty sometimes and call them perennials :-)

      The forsythia is funny. One day, it has a dull yellow look and the next day, BOOM!

      The bunny kicks that dish out of the way when it’s empty or dirty. In the summer, we have two much larger ones out there, and he/she does the same thing.

      MiMi says hi (actually I think she says “get off my lawn” but she’d say hi to you. Enjoy the heat wave.

      Like

  11. Bunny flips the bowl over when he’s done? That’s hilarious.
    🤣

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Just to let me know the dish is empty. Thoughtful little beggar.

      Liked by 1 person

  12. One of the good things about those grammar checkers is they still give you the option to ignore their advice.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. That’s true, Frank. And at least the little blue lines don’t print on the pages of my books. I want people to work to find the errors that make their way to the final version ;-)

      Liked by 1 person

  13. ‘Um, you there’…right up there with ‘you people.’ Cracks me up–how not to get people to help you. 😆 But in Smokey’s case, I’d make an exception.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. If he wasn’t so darn cute, I’d complain about his attitude, but he always appreciates our effort.

      Liked by 1 person

  14. Your photo of MiMi is a classic, Dan. Truly. As always, I love all your photos. As for Word, it is helpful but only goes so far. Your one-liner is a perfect capture. 😊

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thanks Gwen. I’m glad you like the picture of MiMi. I don’t get many of her.

      Like

  15. One of the nice things about writing “medieval” fantasy is I don’t have to deal with rapidly changing technology, Dan. “Called” and “texted” aren’t part of the vocabulary. Great spring pics. It’s snowing like crazy here.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Snowing? Oh, Diana, I hope we don’t see that until December. The pace of change sends me researching “when did…” often.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. We got about 6 inches. Usually I’m just about to start planting my garden. Not this year.

        Liked by 1 person

  16. Dan, I took note of that shot where you mentioned it wouldn’t be long before the view was obstructed. Driving around our area, we see so many homes on hillsides which are completely out of view once Spring sprouts forth. Those homes give new meaning to the phrase “wooded lot.” Leaf removal is a massive task for those homeowners. That is one chore I do not miss, even though we do manage to still get our fair share of leaves from others’ trees!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. It’s funny how the landscape changes with the seasons, Bruce. The big change I notice is that I won’t see the birds unless they’re at the top of the tree.

      Liked by 1 person

  17. It is a verb. Isn’t it? Past tense of an action. It’s not a verb? I am so confused. Maybe I should take a vow of silence… Not!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Haha – one thing I know for sure, Zach is not called Abbie 😊

      Liked by 1 person

  18. Cute robin photo Dan. They have already left here for parts North.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. We’re ready for them, John.

      Liked by 1 person

  19. LOL! What a clever bunny! The trestle bridge is nice to see. Soon you won’t be able to see it when those trees leaf out.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Yeah, it won’t be long now. I’m trying to fill that dish more often 😂

      Liked by 1 person

  20. Hang in there with the editing, Dan. I know what a chore that is. Hugs.

    Liked by 1 person

  21. I’m not a fan of grammar checkers – I think you have to be really vigilant when using them. Looks like spring is thinking about sprunging where you are.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I don’t like them, but they make me read slower, which is good when editing…I think.

      Like

  22. Those leaning trees lend an interesting aspect to the one photo. 😉👍🏻

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I always expect to see them fall into the river.

      Liked by 1 person

  23. Love the spring photos, Dan. Your grammar example has me shaking my head. My grammar gripe, or at least one of them, is that Apple has decided to insert commas or otherwise mess around in my texts, often where they don’t belong. VERY irritating!!

    Like

  24. Hi Dan, I only use the Microsoft word spellcheck when I write. I don’t use other language tools, preferring to rather read my work allowed and give it to a paid editor or another reader to read and comment on. Great pictures.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. I read things several time, and I give it to other readers/proofreaders, but I find the grammar checker sometimes points out “errors” which are really the result of my having not been clear. A paid editor would be nice, but I’m afraid that’s beyond my budget.

      Liked by 1 person

  25. Your forsythia looks good. We chopped ours down and are still finding branches growing under the deck.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. It’s very hard to get rid of. I ha massacred ours several times when it got out of hand, but it always comes back.

      Liked by 1 person

  26. I like your one-liner pics Dan and how nice to see the Forsythia in bloom. We had 84 degrees today and on this morning’s walk, all the early trees had blossoms. I think the rest of the trees will follow.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. It was 92 yesterday, and might be hotter today. Things are popping out all over. It’s going back into the 60s next week. I’m not ready for summer.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. No it was too hot too soon here too, but we didn’t reach 90 – wow! I like easing into the seasons, but maybe that is wishful thinking on my part with climate change and erratic weather.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. Yeah, we went from winter on Monday to summer on Thursday. Too fast.

          Liked by 1 person

  27. Call is not a verb? Are they kidding? I wonder what would happen if you typed ‘telephoned’.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Haha – it would probably suggest not using antiquated terms 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Just what I thought. 😀

        Liked by 1 person

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