You've written up those 10,000 words. Your paper has no errors, but do you stop there? No, of course not, you need to polish your writing to perfection. Fortunately, you can level up - with little effort on your side - by using an AI paraphraser.
AI paraphrasers use natural language processing (NLP) techniques and machine learning algorithms to analyze the input text and generate alternative versions that convey the same ideas.
AI paraphrasers are especially helpful for non-native English speakers who have trouble using diverse vocabulary, producing flawless grammar, and choosing appropriate phrases for specific contexts. In one article, 73% of participants (11 out of 15) reported difficulty conveying their intentions accurately in English.
In this post, we’ll compare five AI Paraphrasers, and see which ones are the most effective for non-native speakers. We’ll test how each AI paraphraser handles five simple sentences generated by non-native speakers. The sentences contain grammatical errors as well as awkwardness in wording, and could be improved to sound more fluid.
Evaluation Process
AI Paraphrasers
- Grammarly
- QuillBot
- Paraphrasing Tool
- Paraphraser.io
- Engram
Note: We will use the free account of each company's AI paraphraser to keep things fair.
Non-Native Test Sentences
For our experiment, we’ll test how each AI paraphraser handles five simple sentences generated by non-native speakers. The sentences contain grammatical errors as well as awkwardness in wording, and could be improved to sound more fluid.
2. I can't to come to the party tomorrow.
3. She is knowing the answer.
4. I have a lot of works to do.
5. He is always late in the morning time.
As a point of reference, we asked a native English speaker, formerly an ESL teacher, to paraphrase the sentences so that they sounded natural. Below are the results:
2. I can't to come to the party tomorrow. ➡ I can't make it to the party tomorrow.
3. She is knowing the answer. ➡ She knows the answer.
4. I have a lot of works to do. ➡ I am swamped with work.
5. He is always late in the morning time. ➡ He always arrives late in the morning.
Grading Scheme
How will we grade the paraphrased sentences?
As the title suggests, we want to find the right AI paraphrasing tool for a non-native speaker, so we will assess the sentences on grammar, diction, fluidity, naturalness and whether it captures the original meaning.
Note: Most of the tools offer a list of suggestions, but to remain objective, we chose the first sentence from the list. We trusted that each paraphrasing service's ranking system was doing its job and that the best sentences were on the top of the list.
Grammarly
Grammarly is well known for its proofreader, but did you know that Grammarly also has a paraphraser? Let’s check it out.
Note: The sentences are not in a numbered list because Grammarly paraphrases the numbering into word form. For example, “1.” becomes “First of all,” and “2.” becomes “Second.”
2. I can't to come to the party tomorrow. ➡ I’m not going to be at the party tomorrow.
3. She is knowing the answer ➡ She is knowing the answer.
4. I have a lot of works to do. ➡ I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me.
5. He is always late in the morning time. ➡ In the morning, he’s never more than a few minutes behind.
Strengths
Grammarly tries to use common phrases such as “on board with you” and “never more than” rather than change the grammar of the original sentence or use a direct synonym of a word in the sentence.
Weaknesses
Grammarly did not fix the grammatical errors in the sentence “She is knowing the answer.”
Even though adding common phrases can be good, in these two cases, “I’m on board with you, too” and “never more than a few minutes” changes the original intent. The inputted sentences are more general, while the outputted sentences have a specific nuance. For example, “late” might not mean that he is just “a few minutes behind.” He could be an hour late every morning.
In conclusion, Grammarly hasn’t quite found the right balance between keeping the original meaning intact and making the sentences sound natural by including common phrases. It also does not guarantee that paraphrased sentences are free from grammatical errors.
Quillbot
Quillbot is known for its paraphrasing tool. Lots of bloggers have claimed that Quillbot is the go-to service for paraphrasing, so let's look at it in detail.
Note: Quillbot has two modes “Standard” and “Fluency” that you can choose to apply to your sentences in its paraphrasing tool. We will evaluate both styles in this analysis.
1. I am agree with you. ➡ I concur with you.
2. I can't to come to the party tomorrow. ➡ I am unable to attend the celebration tomorrow.
3. She is knowing the answer. ➡ She is aware of the solution.
4. I have a lot of works to do. ➡ I'm swamped with work.
5. He is always late in the morning time. ➡ He consistently arrives late in the morning.
1. I am agree with you. ➡ I concur with you.
2. I can't to come to the party tomorrow. ➡ I will be unable to attend the celebration tomorrow.
3. She is knowing the answer. ➡ She knows the solution.
4. I have a lot of works to do. ➡ I have a large number of tasks to complete.
5. He is always late in the morning time. ➡ He is constantly late in the morning.
Strengths
Quillbot uses phrases such as "I'm swamped with work" that a native speaker would use. Quillbot also did a good job of preserving the length of sentences.
Weaknesses
In "Standard" mode, Quillbot uses words that would not come up in everyday conversation such as "concur." "Celebration" also has a different connotation than “party.” "Solution" and "aware" also have a slight difference in meaning to "answer" and "know." In conclusion, in "Standard" mode, several words were unnecessarily changed into alternatives, which did more harm than good to the sentences.
Similarly, "Fluency" mode also produced some words that did not fully capture the original sentence's meaning, such as "concur," "celebration," "solution," and "tasks."
In conclusion, due to the unsatisfactory vocabulary choices of the output sentences, Quillbot gained a lower score than had been originally anticipated. The diction did not capture the original meaning of the sentences.
Paraphrasing Tool
Paraphrasing Tool is a free paraphraser found on the internet that allows you to do basic paraphrasing.
Note: If you hit the button "Advanced Paraphrase," you will be directed to the Quillbot website.
2. I can't to come to the party tomorrow. ➡ I can't to come to the party tomorrow.
3. She is knowing the answer. ➡ She is aware of the response.
4. I have a lot of works to do. ➡ I have a great deal of attempts to do.
5. He is always late in the morning time. ➡ He always arrives late in the morning.
Strengths
"He always arrives late in the morning" was paraphrased correctly and corresponds with the intended meaning of the original sentence.
Weaknesses
Four of the paraphrased statements either have grammatical errors or significant changes in meaning.
- "I'm concur with you." Grammatically, concur should not be preceded by "am."
- The sentence is unchanged and grammatically incorrect..
- "Aware" does not fully capture the meaning of the word “know,” and “response” also has a different meaning from the word “answer.”
- "Attempts” has a different meaning from the word “work.”
Four out of the five sentences contained grammar errors and/or inappropriate word choice. Thus, we do not recommend non-native speakers use Paraphrasing Tool for their revisions.
Paraphraser.io
Paraphraser.io has different modes and also offers an API for B2B use.
Note: There are three modes “Fluency,” “Standard,” and “Word Changer” on the free version; we tested "Fluency" and "Word Changer" modes.
1. I am agree with you. ➡ I agree with you.
2. I can't to come to the party tomorrow. ➡ I can't go to the party tomorrow.
3. She is knowing the answer ➡ she knows the answer.
4. I have a lot of works to do. ➡ There are many things to do.
5. He is always late in the morning time. ➡ He is always late in the morning.
1. I am agree with you. ➡ I am concur with you.
2. I can't to come to the party tomorrow. ➡ I can't to come to the party tomorrow.
3. She is knowing the answer. ➡ She is knowing the answer.
4. I have a lot of works to do. ➡ I have a part of works to do.
5. He is always late in the morning time. ➡ He is continuously late within the morning time.
Strengths
Four of the "Fluency” mode sentences were grammatically correct. The "s" in the third sentence of "Fluency" mode should be capitalized.
Weaknesses
"Fluency” mode acted more as a grammar checker than a paraphraser. It didn't reword the sentences or change any diction to make the sentences sound better; they were just grammatically correct versions of the original sentences. "There are many things to do" also changed the nuances of the original sentence, as the phrase "a lot to do" is more general than “work,” and the subject has changed from first person to third person.
On the other hand, the "Word Changer” mode generated a number of grammatical errors, and did not produce one sentence that was not awkward or did not contain grammatical errors.
Even though “Fluency” mode sentences sounded natural, "Word Changer" mode posed many problems. We recommend that if non-native speakers decide to use this tool, they should be mindful to not use the "Word Changer."
Wordtune
Wordtune is another popular paraphraser. Wordtune has five writing modes: “Rewrite,” “Casual,” “Formal,” “Shorter” and “Longer.” With these modes, Wordtune uses AI to generate a variety of sentences that the users can pick and choose from depending on their needs.
Note: We tested the "Rewrite" and "Formal" modes.
2. I can't to come to the party tomorrow. ➡ I can't come to the party tomorrow.
3. She is knowing the answer. ➡ She knows the answer.
4. I have a lot of works to do. ➡ There is a lot to do.
5. He is always late in the morning time. ➡ His mornings are always late.
2. I can't to come to the party tomorrow. ➡ Regrettably, I am unable to attend the party tomorrow.
3. She is knowing the answer. ➡ She possesses the pertinent knowledge.
4. I have a lot of works to do. ➡ My workload is quite extensive.
5. He is always late in the morning time. ➡ He persistently arrives late in the mornings.
Strengths
All the five sentences in the "Rewrite" Mode was grammatically correct.
"Regrettably" in the "Formal" mode is a good addition to the second sentence.
Weaknesses
Wordtune uses the word "concur" in many of its revisions, but "concur" is not a word frequently used by native speakers. It also used the word "views" for this sentence, but we cannot be sure of what one is agreeing with in the original sentence.
"His mornings are always late" has a different nuance and is more general than the original sentence "He is always late in the morning time."
Additionally, "pertinent knowledge" has a different meaning to the original word "answer."
On the whole, Wordtune uses apt phrases that native speakers would use to describe certain scenarios, and also adds in words that accurately capture the sentence's nuances.
Engram
Engram is the first AI Proofreader and Paraphraser that is optimized for non-native speakers. It spots common errors that non-native speakers make and corrects them, so that the text sounds like what a native speaker would have written.
2. I can't to come to the party tomorrow. -> I won't be able to make it to the party tomorrow.
3. She is knowing the answer -> She knows the answer.
4. I have a lot of works to do. -> I have a lot of tasks to complete.
5. He is always late in the morning time. -> He consistently arrives late in the morning.
Strengths
The edits from the Engram paraphraser are simple and easy to follow, retains the original meaning of the sentence most accurately and creates slight changes so that the sentence sounds better. The sentences have the fluidity of a native speaker, rather than a person trying to impress a grader.
Weaknesses
The character count is longer than before, and "works" was rewritten as "tasks." In the previous sentence, the word "works" might not have been referring to the word "tasks" thus this rewrite might not encapsulate the original meaning.
Engram's paraphrased statements did not contain any grammatical errors, only a meaning error, and the phrases that sound like those that a native speaker would say. Thus, Engram has successfully achieved its purposes as a tool that helps non-native speakers achieve native fluency with minimal effort.
The Final Verdict
Which AI paraphraser is the best for non-native speakers?
According to the results of our test, here are the top three AI paraphrasers that produce the most accurate and natural-sounding output:
- Engram Score: 4.5/5
- Wordtune Score: 4/5
- Paraphraser.io Score: 3.5/5
Of course, the aptness of the results of each paraphraser will be dependent on the written work's purpose and the writer's intention. However, all-in-all, Engram came out as number one against the four other AI Paraphrasers.
With a free Engram account, you can sound like a native speaker with just a couple of clicks. To fully reap the benefits of Engram, upgrade to Engram PREMIUM for full access to unlimited proofreading and paraphrasing and other special features.
Engram also has a Proofreader to help quell your grammar worries, and level up your writing to match that of a native speaker.
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2023-08-1421 mins
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