Ron Bauer

This booklet was included with the handbook for Grammatik II: The Writing Analysist Instruction Manual by Ron Bauer. This little document promotes five software tools for writers and a seven-step writing routine.

The generic names of the five software tools for writers are: (1) outline processors, (2) word processors, (3) electronic spelling checkers, (4) electronic writing analysts (e.g., Grammatik II), and (5) electronic thesauruses.

Bauer's seven-step writing routine consists of: (1) Scheme (i.e., plan), (2) Outline, (3) Draft, (4) Proof, (5) Revise, (6) Polish, and (7) Print.

In 1986, I used my own selection of five DOS-based software tools with the functionality of the five tools promoted by Bauer: (1) PC-Outline, (2) PC-Write, (3) Word Proof (spell checker), (4) Grammatik II, and (5) Word Proof (thesaurus).

In 2008, I still occasionally use PC-Outline and PC-Write when writing drafts and programming. Otherwise, I use whatever is handy for word processing with a strong preference for freeware, such as, RoughDraft 3.0 and Jarte 4.1. Spell checking and thesauruses are built-in to today's lineup of word processors. Style checkers are now built-in to most commercial word processors, eliminating the need for products like Grammatik II and its successors.

WordWeb 5.5 is currently my favorite writing helper. It is a dictionary and thesaurus. Although it seems to work well with all of my word processing programs, it is tightly integrated with RoughDraft and Jarte.… (meer)

This is a tutorial and reference manual for using Grammatik II software. Grammatik II is a proofreader and editorial aid for locating and identifying your writing problems.

Grammatik II looks for such writing problems as double words, split infinitives, passive voice, wrong or vague words, awkward language, gender specific terms, reading grade level, overused phrases, pretentious expressions, trite expressions, sentence length, redundancy, unbalanced punctuation, and misplaced capitalization.

Minimum hardware requirements: IBM-compatible PC, MS-DOS 2.0 or later, at least 128K RAM, and at least one double-sided 5.25" floppy disk drive.

Grammatik II works with WordStar, Microsoft Word, Multimate, WordPerfect, PFS:Write, IBM Writing Assistant, Framework II, Symphony, and other word processors.

A bonus booklet was included with this manual: World's Shortest Writing Course (1986) by Ron Bauer.… (meer)