Is using suggested words count as AI rewriting?

[Light_Yagami]

I often make grammatical errors while writing, so I use Grammarly as a checker/editor. Most of the time, Grammarly suggests better words or sentence structures. I sometimes use these suggestions because they sound much better than my original words. However, lately, I've noticed that using these suggestions is causing my story to be rejected for being AI-generated.

I've read the guidelines, and they state that it's okay to use Grammarly. So, what has changed? Why is this happening? I'm confused.

 

[StillStunned]

Probably a time lag between when the guidelines were posted and how Grammarly works nowadays. If you're using it just to check grammar and spelling, it seems to be fine. But if you rewrite it, your letting software take over the writing process.

I've never used Grammarly, but I can imagine that individual sentences that it suggests might sound slick and professional. And that's great if you're writing a business report. But if you're writing fiction, you want it to sound *real*. Your style is part of your reader's experience, and the words you choose and how you present them can add depth to the narrative. That's something that no software can do, but it's what distinguishes a description of events from a true story.

 

[Candy_Kane54]

I had a story rejected for AI using Grammarly's suggested words so I'd advise against it. I don't know for a fact but the pattern of word suggestions could be used to filter for AI so I have stopped using Grammarly's suggested words out of caution.

 

[Light_Yagami]

@Candy_Kane54 then what software are you using then?

 

[Bamagan]

I often make grammatical errors while writing, so I use Grammarly as a checker/editor. Most of the time, Grammarly suggests better words or sentence structures. I sometimes use these suggestions because they sound much better than my original words. However, lately, I've noticed that using these suggestions is causing my story to be rejected for being AI-generated.

I've read the guidelines, and they state that it's okay to use Grammarly. So, what has changed? Why is this happening? I'm confused.

The basic spelling and grammar checker is (supposedly) fine to use. To the extent that its suggestions feature is based on LLM AI assistance, it can become problematic if you rely on it too much. Unusual words and sentence structures are things they're generally trained to avoid and therefore 'correct' when their advice is asked by a writer, because they're designed to help people write in the 'usual' way, i.e., minimally individualistic. You don't have to resort to deliberate errors, but the more suggestions you take, the greater the likelihood that the overall composition winds up tripping the breaker, so to speak.
No one has details on what kind of detection software the site uses to look for AI-generated content, but it's probably not very reliable (none of the free versions are very good, at least the last time I checked). Most of them function, in a very basic sense, by looking at the content and measuring how likely they would be to write it; if the bot looks at it and calculates the equivalent of 'this is a damn fine piece of prose', it considers it likely to be AI generated. False positives are frequent, since the stuff the AI is regurgitating is an amalgam of most common styles of writing in its database. They ingested as much of the internet as they were allowed plus a lot they weren't, so finding commonalities in content and structure is not hard at all.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Grammarly likes to move your opening clause to the ending clause (for clarity), but often, it actually makes the sentence less clear. If it thinks it should be rewritten, I'll look at the suggestion and either rewrite it myself (the way I want). So, taking the suggestions to change actually to really, or encouraged to insisted or vice versa, might trigger something. Write using words you want to use. When it doesn't like certain and wants sure, figure out what you want not what it wants.

 

[Candy_Kane54]

@Candy_Kane54 then what software are you using then?

I use Grammarly, but I am careful to make my own changes when Grammarly points out a problem with sentence structure instead of using its suggestions. I do use it mostly for punctuation and spelling.

 

[SamBomb]

Grammarly likes to move your opening clause to the ending clause (for clarity), but often, it actually makes the sentence less clear. If it thinks it should be rewritten, I'll look at the suggestion and either rewrite it myself (the way I want). So, taking the suggestions to change actually to really, or encouraged to insisted or vice versa, might trigger something. Write using words you want to use. When it doesn't like certain and wants sure, figure out what you want not what it wants.

OMG I use grammarly and am blown away how often "for clarity" they want to switch the order of my sentence so it sounds worse. I reject it every time.

 

[lilshymynx]

I often make grammatical errors while writing, so I use Grammarly as a checker/editor. Most of the time, Grammarly suggests better words or sentence structures. I sometimes use these suggestions because they sound much better than my original words. However, lately, I've noticed that using these suggestions is causing my story to be rejected for being AI-generated.

I've read the guidelines, and they state that it's okay to use Grammarly. So, what has changed? Why is this happening? I'm confused.

You are allowed to use Grammarly for SPAG, but not it's rewriting suggestions.

 

[StillStunned]

Surly pom, having none,
Horny dancer, horny dancer,
Surly pom, having none,
Horny dancer toucan gone.

I picture an AI generating text like a kid trying to sing "Sur le pont d'Avignon" without actually knowing the words or understanding their meaning. They can approximate the sounds, but it's just that: sounds that sound like words and lines.

 

[Candy_Kane54]

One example of what to avoid with Grammarly:

You have: <first long clause>, but <second long clause>. [I do this a lot.]

Grammarly will suggest breaking it into two sentences thus: <first long clause>. Still, <add an appropriate pronoun + second long clause>.

 

[HaralLuhhan]

I use Grammarly for the basic stuff. I've accepted the occasional word structure suggestion, but often it takes the personality out of a sentence. I'm trying to write dialog as if its a character with a specific personality talking, but Grammerly thinks thats incorrect and wants to 'fix' it

 

[sinfantasy]

Dont trust AI based editing tools for creative writing. Their primary customer base is professionals. While tools like ProWritingAid will provide you options to select the type of work, like Fiction, romance, academic, business etc.. it sucks at creative writing.

Anytime you allow these tools to restructure your sentences, you are crossing in to AI generated text category.

 

[MillieDynamite]

If it points out an often repeated word in your text, dismiss it, and then find a synonym you want to use. While using suggested changes in overused words mightn't trigger an AI flag, it's still up to you to choose what word you use. That is what a writer should decide, not software.