CapitalizationThe following are grammar and writing style options you can set in the Grammar Settings dialog box (Tools menu, Options command, Spelling & Grammar tab).
If you are setting options for text written in a language other than your language version of Word, the options may differ in the dialog box. For example, if you're typing Spanish text in an English document, the grammar and style options for Spanish will be different from the ones for English.
Capitalization
Capitalization problems, such as proper nouns ("Mr. jones" should be "Mr. Jones") or titles that precede proper nouns ("aunt Helen" should be "Aunt Helen"). Also detects overuse of capitalization.
Fragments and Run-ons
Sentence fragments and run-on sentences.
Misused words
Incorrect usage of adjectives and adverbs, comparatives and superlatives, "like" as a conjunction, "nor" versus "or," "what" versus "which," "who" versus "whom," units of measure, conjunctions, prepositions, and pronouns.
Negation
Use of multiple negation.
Noun phrases
Incorrect noun phrases; a/an misuse; number agreement problems in noun phrases ("five machine" instead of "five machines").
Possessives and plurals
Use of a possessive in place of a plural, and vice versa. Also detects omitted apostrophes in possessives.
Punctuation
Incorrect punctuation, including commas, colons, end-of-sentence punctuation, punctuation in quotations, multiple spaces between words, or a semicolon used in place of a comma or colon.
Questions
Non-standard questions such as, "He asked if there was any coffee left?", "Which makes an offer a good solution?", and "She asked did you go after all?".
Relative clauses
Incorrect use of relative pronouns and punctuation, including "who" used in place of "which" to refer to things, "which" used in place of "who" to refer to people, unnecessary use of "that" with "whatever" and "whichever," or "thatÆs" used in place of "whose."
Subject-verb agreement
Disagreement between the subject and its verb, subject-complement agreement, and subject-verb agreement with pronouns and quantifiers (for example, "All of the students has left" instead of "All of the students have left").
Verb phrases
Incorrect verb phrases; incorrect verb tenses; transitive verbs used as intransitive verbs.
ClichΘs, Colloquialisms, and Jargon
Contractions
Use of contractions that should be spelled out or that are considered too informal for a specific writing style ù for example, "We won't leave 'til tomorrow" instead of "We will not leave until tomorrow."
Fragment ù stylistic suggestions
Fragments that you might want to avoid in formal writing, such as "A beautiful day!" or "Why?".
Gender-specific words
Gender-specific language, such as "councilman" and "councilwomen."
Hyphenated and compound words
Hyphenated words that should not be hyphenated, and vice versa. Also detects closed compounds that should be open, and vice versa.
Misused words ù stylistic suggestions
Nonstandard words such as "ain't" as well as miscellaneous usages such as "angry at" instead of "angry with."
Numbers
Numerals that should be spelled out (use nine instead of 9), and vice versa (use 12 instead of twelve). Also detects incorrect usage of "%" in place of "percentage."
Passive sentences
Sentences written in the passive voice. When possible, the suggestions are rewritten in the active voice.
Possessives and plurals ù stylistic suggestions
Questionable but not strictly incorrect possessive usages such as "Her memory is like an elephant's" or "I stopped by John's."
Punctuation ù
stylistic suggestions
Unneeded commas in date phrases, informal successive punctuation marks, and missing commas before quotations ù for example, "She said 'He is due at noon.'"
Relative clauses ù stylistic
suggestions
Questionable use of "that" or "which."
Sentence length (more than sixty words)
Sentences that include more than 60 words.
Sentence structure
Sentence fragments, run-on sentences, overuse of conjunctions (such as "and" or "or"), nonparallel sentence structure (such as shifts between active and passive voice in a sentence), incorrect sentence structure of questions, and misplaced modifiers.
Sentences beginning with "And," "But," and
"Hopefully"
Use of conjunctions and adverbs at the beginning of a sentence, or use of "plus" as a conjunction between two independent clauses.
Successive nouns (more than three)
Strings of several nouns that may be unclear, as in "The income tax office business practices remained the same."
Successive prepositional phrases (more than three)
Strings of prepositional phrases, as in "The book on the shelf in the corner at the library on the edge of town was checked out."
Unclear phrasing
Ambiguous phrasing, such as "more" followed by an adjective and a plural or mass noun ("We need more thorough employees," instead of "We need more employees who are thorough"), or sentences in which there is more than one possible referent for a pronoun ("All of the departments did not file a report" instead of "Not all of the departments filed a report").
Use of first person
Pronouns "I" and "me," which shouldnÆt be used in scientific or technical writing.
Verb phrases ù stylistic suggestions
Use of indicative verb forms where the subjunctive is preferable; split verb phrases; and passive verb phrases ù for example, "The pepper is able to be chopped without burning fingers."
Wordiness
Wordy relative clauses or vague modifiers (such as "fairly" or "pretty"), redundant adverbs, too many negatives, the unnecessary use of "or not" in the phrase "whether or not," or the use of "possible à may" in place of "possible à will."
Words in split infinitives (more than one)
Two or more words between "to" and an infinitive verb, as in "to very boldly enter the market."