LanguageTool and Eloquent: Two Grammar Checkers for Your Linux Machines

The FOSS Force Linux Apps of the Week — LanguageTool and Eloquent

Looking for ways to catch errors in your writing? LanguageTool and Eloquent offer simple solutions with no fuss.

LanguageTool and Eloquent are simple-to-use grammar checkers for Linux. If you’re a writer like me, there’s a user-friendly tool you should consider adding to your workflow.

LanguageTool

I also require tools to make my job easier. One such tool is a grammar checker. Oftentimes, apps such as LibreOffice have built-in grammar checkers, but not all apps are created equal. When I have to use an app that requires me to hammer away at the keys and doesn’t include a grammar checker, one of the tools I turn to is LanguageTool.

The official description of LanguageTool makes it clear what it does:

“LanguageTool is an open source proofreading program for English, French, German, Russian, and more than 20 other languages.”

As the description says, it’s open source, licensed under the LGPL-2.1 license. However, it also has a premium subscription version that’s available on the project’s website.

When you use LanguageTool, you’ll see three different colors:

• Yellow – grammar errors
• Red – spelling errors
• Blue – style issues

There are no settings to be had (other than selecting your language and switching between auto and manual), and the tool couldn’t be easier. Simply copy the text you want checked, paste it into LanguageTool, and let it do its job. At the same time, LanguageTool allows you to save files directly from the app.

I compared LanguageTool against Grammarly, and it performed fairly well. Where Grammarly caught three style issues, Eloquent did not. However, I’ve known Grammarly to miss a thing or two as well. I also compared it against other tools and found it to be far superior, not only because it’s better at catching issues, but because it offers suggestions and explains what’s going on.

LanguageTool will also appeal to Linux users because, in the explanation of errors, it gives you both the line and the column numbers. That makes it very easy to find what you’re looking for. Of course, I’ve had instances where the column number is in the 300s, which isn’t exactly easy to count. On top of that, the app uses line wrapping, so column 391 is most likely in the middle or end of a paragraph. The good news is that errors will be highlighted in a specific color (depending on what the issue is).

One thing to know about its file save is that it can only save in .txt format, so if you plan on using the content in a document you’ll either want to copy and paste the newly-corrected text into a document or save it and then open it.

Here’s another caveat with LanguageTool. While some similar services will correct errors with a right-click, LanguageTool does not. If LanguageTool catches an error you have to check the suggestion in the lower pane and then manually make the correction.

Although LanguageTool is available through some distros’ app stores, if you don’t find it, not to worry. It can be installed on Linux with Snap, using the command:

sudo snap install languagetool

Eloquent

There are other front ends for LanguageTool. One is Eloquent, an app that uses LanguageTool as a backend and offers a much nicer user interface. On top of that, Eloquent has pop-ups that allow you to make corrections with a single click.

Eloquent is also open source, of course, licensed under GPLv3.

Between the two apps, I prefer Eloquent because of the UI. However, if I want to get a bit of education on why something is wrong (and how the fix corrects it), LanguageTool is the way to go.

Since it’s distributed as a Flatpak, it’s available through many distros’ software manager. If not, you can install the Flatpak with the command:

flatpak install flathub re.sonny.Eloquent

If you’re a writer like me, I would suggest giving one (or both) of these apps a try.