WD: Grammar Checker Won't Flag Errors in Nonpunctuated Text

• Microsoft Word for Windows, versions 6.0, 6.0a, 6.0c
• Microsoft Word for Windows 95, versions 7.0, 7.0a
• Microsoft Word for the Macintosh, versions 5.0, 5.1
• Microsoft Word for the Macintosh, versions 6.0, 6.0.1, 6.0.1a

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Word, when you choose Grammar from the Tools menu, and the document or selection of the document you want to check is composed of text that the Grammar checker evaluates as ungrammatical, it treats the file or selection as if it has no grammatical errors.

NOTE: A sentence must contain a period or other punctuation mark to be checked for grammar.

CAUSE

To start the grammar checker, a document must have a certain basic structure. The Grammar checker determines basic grammatical structure by searching the text for punctuation, nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. If these basic parts of a sentence are missing from the selection or document, the Grammar command evaluates the entire block of text as ungrammatical and does not perform a normal grammar check. As a result, the Grammar command reaches the end of the document or selection without reporting any errors.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the versions of Word listed above. This problem was corrected in Microsoft Word 97 for Windows and Microsoft Word 98 Macintosh Edition.

MORE INFORMATION

The Grammar command is designed to ignore text that is not in a particular format in order to avoid running grammar checks on items such as column headings or columns of numbers. Although the words in these headings or columns can be separated by spaces or tabs and can end with a carriage return, the Grammar command does not consider them to be grammatically correct sentences.