Grammar Check Prompt

What it does

Checks your writing for grammar errors and, crucially, explains the rule behind each one. A normal grammar checker fixes the sentence in front of you. This prompt fixes it and tells you why, so the next time you hit the same situation you get it right yourself. It's the difference between being handed a fish and learning the comma rule. Especially useful if English isn't your first language, or if you keep making the same slip and don't know what it's called.

Check the text below for grammar, punctuation, and usage errors.

For each error, give me:
- The original phrase and the correction.
- The name of the rule (e.g., subject-verb agreement, comma splice, dangling modifier).
- A one-sentence explanation of the rule in plain language.

Rules for you:
- Focus on grammar and mechanics, not style. Don't rewrite sentences you just don't prefer.
- If something is a style choice rather than an error, say so and leave it to me.
- Be accurate — don't invent rules. If a sentence is correct, don't "fix" it.

At the end:
- Give me the corrected full text.
- List the error types I made most often, ranked, so I know what to study.

Text:
[paste the text here]

How to use it

Paste a real piece of your writing — an email, an essay, a draft post. You'll get a breakdown of each error with the rule named, then the clean version, then a ranked list of your most common mistakes. That ranked list is the point. Most writers repeat three or four specific errors; once you know yours by name (comma splices, its/it's, who/whom), you can catch them yourself.

If you write in British English, say so up front, or it'll flag British spellings and punctuation as errors.

Example output

Error: "The team are meeting" → "The team is meeting" — Subject-verb agreement: in American English, collective nouns like 'team' take a singular verb.

Error: "Its a great idea" → "It's a great idea" — It's = it is; its = possessive. This one's the most common typo in English.

Most common error types: "1) its/it's (3x), 2) comma splices (2x), 3) subject-verb agreement (1x)."

Variations

ESL focus: Add "English is my second language. Spend extra time on articles (a/an/the) and prepositions, which are hardest to get right, and explain those simply."

Quick mode: Add "Skip the explanations — just give me the corrections and the corrected text. I'm in a hurry."

Strict academic: Add "This is academic writing. Apply formal grammar strictly, including rules people often relax in casual writing."

Just flag, don't fix: Add "Don't correct anything. Just point out the errors with their rule names so I can fix them myself for practice."

Common pitfalls

Confusing style with grammar. AI sometimes "corrects" a perfectly grammatical sentence to its preferred phrasing. The "don't rewrite style" instruction limits this — if it still happens, push back: "That was a style change, not a grammar error."

Trusting invented rules. Models occasionally state a rule with confidence that isn't quite right. For anything that surprises you, double-check it. The explanation is a teaching aid, not gospel.

Dialect mismatch. Without telling it your dialect, you'll get American conventions by default and a pile of false flags if you write British or other English.

Who uses this prompt

Writers who want to get better, not just get fixed — students, non-native English speakers, bloggers leveling up, and professionals who never learned the rules formally and want to stop guessing. If you'd rather understand the mistake than just paper over it, this is the check to run.