Mojave Spell Check False Flags

I'm seeing this intermittently in both Messages and Nisus Writer Pro. In Messages, at least, with grammar checking explicitly disabled. (If NWP has a setting for that I'm not sure where it is.)

(note “too” underlined)

I suspect this is related to the idiotic way iOS likes to make corrections like “were” to “we’re”—which I always figured was some kind of machine learning gone wrong. I could live with this kind of buggy spellcheck in Messages, but to have it happening in a word processor is annoying AF.

Hi Dialabrain,

I've been using word processors for more than thirty years and am well aware of the limitations (which is why I never use a grammar checker), but flagging a correctly spelled and extremely common word as incorrect, (or correcting one correctly spelled, extremely common word to another, as with iOS “we’re/were”) is simply a bug. (I've also been a professional programmer for more than twenty years.)

I believe NWP has its own spell checker, but it also makes heavy use of macOS native operating system services, much more so than cross-platform apps like Word or Firefox (or even most macOS apps). I've never seen the issue before and would have chalked it up to the recent release of NWP 3.0, if I weren't also seeing it in Apple's apps.

Here's the same sentence in Notes, FWIW:

Again, grammar checking is explicitly disabled:

Having seen the warning message, this really looks like a grammar check to me, not a spell check, which makes me think it’s a bug in the code that’s supposed to enable/disable the grammar checker based on that checkbox.

(Either that or Apple has decided to roll some set of grammar checks into the spell checker, in a non-disable-able way, but hasn't gotten around to removing the checkbox and/or the old grammar checker. Which would be seriously annoying and broken, but not out of character for Apple product design.)

I'm experiencing this issue too, since upgrading to macOS Mojave. I use Pages every day — with spelling but not grammar checking on — and started noticing words being flagged that weren't before upgrading. I found that 'correcting' the grammar by adding a comma after Temple Gardens made the highlight go. But if I delete the comma, the highlight doesn't come back. Seems pretty inconsistent to me. And I might want to flout the comma rules in certain places, so this shouldn't be a red flag like it's a definite mistake — very confusing and annoying.

On top of that, when I run Spelling & Grammar, it suggests changing it's to its, which is definitely incorrect. And when I change it obviously it underlines it red again. So that just feels like a bug:

At the very least grammar issues should be highlighted in a colour other than red, which makes them look like spelling mistakes. And if the suggestion is adding a comma, then the highlight should be on the space between the words, not the following word itself.

With all spelling and grammar checking selections off in Pages v7.3, it will not flag any errors on High Sierra 10.13.6 (17G3025), but it will on Mojave 10.14.1. You can resolve the “too” sentence agreement issue by inserting a comma after playing:

Didn't mean to imply the spell checker is not flawed. Personally I don't like spell checkers on any platform. At any rate, you can send Apple feedback or a bug report from the feedback page. Feedback - macOS - Apple

It's not just "tricky" grammatical quirks, it's a lot of flagrant mistakes. Which leads me to believe this is not an issue of poor grammar, but a significant bug in the grammar checker itself. The fact that it all of a sudden turned itself on, is visually the same as the spelling checker, and can't be turned off, suggests that this is a silly regression bug, not a silly grammar checker.

Bloody annoying though, particularly when it feels like macos is falling victim to the frustrations of iOS. I use a computer instead of a phone to type for many good reasons, some of which are evaporating for no good (end user) reason!

This screenshot is from Mail - the checker thinks "of" should be "off". Funny that I did actually make a mistake (there should be a "be" after "will") but am distracted by a non-mistake.

Mike Mcclure wrote:

I've checked System Preferences/Keyboard/Text options to make sure I'm using local language instead of Auto.

What is the "local language"?

Have you also checked the dictionary in the app, Edit > Spelling and Grammar > Show Spelling and Grammar?

I have seen this same behavior since upgrading to Mojave in both Scrivener and Pages. Like you, I turn off all grammar checkers in all apps, but I'm still seeing it. Besides "to" and "too," it has also flagged "of" (suggesting "off") when the word is correct.

It isn't the worst problem, but it is very annoying. I have also submitted feedback to Apple.

Looks like Scrivener has worked around this issue in their latest version (3.1), which is good. But it would be much better if the underlying OS fixed the issue, as it's prevalent across other apps like Pages.

I'm also having this problem across a range of software – Evernote and Scrivener being my most commonly used. Maddening whilst trying to write my PhD thesis. I assumed the same thing regarding iOS autocorrect, as this is exactly the sort of thing that happens on my phone. But when doing serious writing it's a real distraction. I hope they sort this soon...

I found a new workaround that seems to be working so far: in System Preferences > Keyboard > Text, go into the Spelling: drop-down, select Set Up…, and uncheck every box. (It might only be necessary to uncheck U.S. English, but I'm not taking any chances.)

You are not going to fix the “broken” grammar checker, and that comma was recommended by an external grammar checking tool. Might be time to switch from Pages to another word processing application that doesn't intrude on your writing space.

What's broken about it, as discussed up-thread, is that the preference to turn it off doesn't work, and as also discussed up-thread, I'm not using Pages, I'm using Nisus Writer. (And before you ask, yes, I have filed an issue with them as well -- if Scrivener can work around Apple's system text preferences bugs, Nisus should be able to as well.)

As for the grammar checking tool's ideas about commas, you can take them up with Hemingway, Cormac McCarthy, and e e cummings.

I'm seeing the same problem with the word "by." It wants me to "correct" it to "buy," which is obviously not correct. All these issues started for me when I upgraded to Mojave. Very annoying.

And before anyone suggests it's an app thing, I've seen it in multiple, unrelated apps: Pages, Scrivener, Day One, etc. It is definitely part of the built in spell check. I also have disabled any grammar checking, so it shouldn't be suggesting alternates to words that are spelled correctly anyway. So frustrating.

I agree. Who ever programs the spell and grammar check has a had an appalling education. My father, prof of english and linguistics just retired, says he has seen university level education slip dramatically. Spelling, grammar and punctuation is abysmal from the way it was 20 or more years ago.

Clearly these losers find their way in to big tech to the point where writing ‘didn’t’ brings up a red flag!

The thing is it can’t just be one person. It must be an entire team tasked with maintaining the integrity of the system. Which leaves you asking massive questions about Apple’s hiring policies as well the erosion of well written and spoken English in society.