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Voice & Standards Writing Checker

Paste a draft and see every place where it breaks one of your own rules for spelling, dates and wording, or differs from the way you usually write. Free, in your browser, no sign-up.

How it works

Four things the tool looks for in a draft

Each one can be used alone or with the others. Choose one to see what it does, an example of what it finds, what it is good for and where it falls short.

Editorial rules

10 rules · each one required, preferred or off

A rule is something a text either does or does not do. You choose British or American spelling, one way to write a date and a time, your own names for things and a longest sentence, and the tool marks every place where the draft does otherwise. A broken required rule comes first, as something to fix. A preferred rule gives a suggestion.

Draft
The color is back in stock on October 12th, 2026.
With British spelling and the date format “8 October 2026”
The colour is back in stock on 12 October 2026.

Best for: House style: the same spelling, dates and terms in everything a business sends.

Works well for

  • A team or a shop that wants every text written the same way
  • Text for one market: British spelling for the UK, American for the US
  • Slips a spellchecker passes: “color” is a correct word, only not in a British text

Watch out for

  • The spelling rule knows a fixed list of 4,584 British and 605 American spellings. A word outside it passes.
  • It cannot tell a quotation or a product’s name from your own words, so every change waits for your press.
  • A sentence is counted from full stop to full stop, so an abbreviation can cut one in two.

Expressions to avoid

542 expressions in 7 groups

A list we put together: wordy phrases, stiff and official words, stock phrases from letters, office jargon and abbreviations. Tick the groups you want and add lines of your own. Where an expression has a plain replacement, one press makes the change. Where it is only padding, one press takes it out. Where neither would be right, the tool says what to write instead and leaves the wording to you.

A replacement
“We’ll get back to you ASAP.” becomes “We’ll get back to you as soon as possible.”
Padding taken out
“Please note that the office is closed on Friday.” becomes “The office is closed on Friday.”
No ready change
“We apologise for any inconvenience.” The tool says: name what went wrong, and say what you are doing about it.

Best for: Plain wording in customer replies, notices and web pages.

Works well for

  • Cutting padding from emails, notices and web pages
  • Replies to customers, where stock phrases are the lines a reader skips
  • Your own banned words: add a line and it is found like ours

Watch out for

  • The list is our judgment, not a rule of English. Untick whatever does not suit you.
  • It finds the exact words on the list and nothing more.
  • 2 groups, idioms and softeners, are off until you tick them.

Writing style

5 to 15 of your own messages · suggestions only

A writing profile is a count of habits. Paste five to fifteen messages you were happy with, and the page counts how long they run, how long the sentences are, how they open and end, whether you shorten “do not”, whether you write as “I” or “we”, and whether you use exclamation marks. You see every count and untick what is not you before a profile is saved. A draft that differs gets a suggestion, never an error. With no samples to hand, three starting profiles are there: customer support, news and articles, personal emails.

A profile that uses no exclamation marks
In “Hey! We’ll get back to you soon.” the exclamation mark is marked.
A profile that keeps sentences to 25 words
A sentence of 47 words is marked, with its length.

Best for: A second look at habits that can be counted. Tone and meaning stay yours to judge.

Works well for

  • Several people writing under one name, such as a support inbox
  • Keeping a draft near your usual length and sentence length
  • Different profiles for different writing: one for customers, one for colleagues

Watch out for

  • It does not recognise your voice. In our test on the emails of 89 people, a profile made from 15 emails marked 7% of the same writer’s other emails and 16% of other people’s.
  • Five samples are few: such a profile marked 15% of the writer’s own emails. Give it eight or more.
  • The three starting profiles are settings we chose, not anyone’s measured writing.

What a reader could get wrong

Tested on 85,123 real work emails

Some mistakes are correct English and still mislead. The tool compares each weekday with its date in the calendar, works out the day behind “next Friday” and “within 5 days”, and marks dates written in digits, “12pm” and words with two meanings such as “biweekly”.

“The meeting is on Tuesday 14 November 2026.”
14 November 2026 is a Saturday, not a Tuesday.
“Send it by next Friday.”
Two different Fridays, depending on the reader. The tool gives both dates.
“The invoice of 3/4/2027”
3 April to a British reader, March 4 to an American one.

Best for: Any message with a date, a time or a deadline in it.

Works well for

  • Any message that sets a meeting, a deadline or a delivery
  • Readers in another country, who write dates and numbers the other way round
  • A weekday that does not match its date: in our count, one in 34 of the emails that give both

Watch out for

  • It knows no public holidays, so a count of working days ignores them.
  • Where a phrase has an innocent reading it keeps quiet, so it misses some.
  • It reads English only.

What each of the ten rules checks · How the writing profile was tested

A worked example

Press “Try an example” above the text box and the tool checks this message with the settings it starts with: British spelling and the date format “8 October 2026” as required rules, and our list of expressions as a preferred rule. No writing style is chosen to begin with. If you have already changed the rules or chosen a style, it uses yours and the result will differ.

Hey! We’ll get back to you ASAP about your order.

The color you asked for is back in stock on October 12th, 2026, and the center of the pattern has been fixed. We are sorry for any inconvenience and we will call you on 10/14/2026 to confirm that everything is exactly the way that you wanted it to be when you first placed the order with us in the summer and asked us to keep you posted.

Regards,
Sam

It finds six things.

  • Four required rules broken. “color” and “center” are American spellings, and one press makes them “colour” and “centre”. “October 12th, 2026” and “10/14/2026” are not in the chosen date format, and one press makes them “12 October 2026” and “14 October 2026”.
  • Two expressions on the list. “ASAP” has a ready replacement, “as soon as possible”. “Any inconvenience” has none: the page says to name what went wrong and say what you are doing about it, and leaves the wording to you.

Choose the writing style “Customer support” and check it again, and there are two more. That profile uses no exclamation marks, so the one after “Hey” is marked. It keeps sentences to 25 words, and the last sentence of the second paragraph has 47.

Nothing in the message changes until you press a button on a finding, and every finding can be left as it is.

What each of the ten rules checks

  • Spelling. British or American, and with British, -ise or -ize. A word spelt the other way is marked and yours is offered: “color” becomes “colour”. The patterns behind it are in Find Mixed British and American Spelling in Your Text.
  • Date format. One of four: 8 October 2026, October 8, 2026, 8 Oct 2026 or 2026-10-08. A date written any other way is marked and rewritten in the one you chose.
  • Time format. One of four: 5pm, 5 pm, 5 p.m. or 17:00.
  • Preferred terms. Your own names for things, one a line, written as wrong => right: “web site => website”.
  • Expressions to avoid. The groups you tick on our list, lines of your own, or both.
  • One word or two. Marks “login” used as a verb, “alot”, and “sign up” used as a noun. The rule is explained in Log In or Login?
  • No contractions. Marks “don’t” and “we’ll” and offers “do not” and “we will”.
  • Sentence length. Marks any sentence longer than the number of words you set. It starts at 30.
  • Exclamation marks. How many a text may have. It starts at none.
  • What your reader could get wrong. The checks of Before you send: a weekday that does not match its date, “next Friday”, a date in digits such as 3/4/2027, 12pm.

How the writing profile was tested

We wanted to know what a profile made from a handful of messages is worth, so we tried it on real ones: the sent emails of 89 people at one company, from the set described in How Long Is a Normal Work Email?. For each person we made a profile from 15 of their emails, then checked 20 more of their own and 20 written by other people, and did that three times with different emails.

The first version marked 31% of a writer’s own emails, mostly for a greeting or an ending that a quick reply had left out. That is noise, so those two are now marked only when the draft has a greeting or an ending of another kind, “Dear” where you write “Hi”. As it stands, a profile made from 15 emails marks 7% of the same writer’s other emails and 16% of other people’s. Made from 5 samples, it marks 15% of the writer’s own.

So a profile does not recognise your voice, and should not be read as if it did. It notices a few habits when a draft breaks them: contractions (marked in 3% of a writer’s own emails and 15% of other people’s), exclamation marks (3% and 11%), a sentence or a message much longer than usual. Give it eight samples or more, and treat a mark as a reason to look.

What the tool cannot do

The check itself does not judge tone, meaning or facts, and it does not write for you. A rule finds the forms it knows: a date it cannot read is not marked, and a sentence is counted from full stop to full stop, so an abbreviation can cut one in two. The list of expressions finds the exact words on it and nothing more: it cannot tell that a phrase is a quotation, a product’s name or the only right word in your sentence, which is why every change waits for your press. The three starting profiles are settings we chose, not anyone’s measured writing. Pick one, or make your own.

What is kept, and where

Your rules and the profiles you save are kept in your browser, on this device, and nowhere else. The samples you paste to make a profile are read on the page and not kept. Your drafts are neither sent nor stored. To move your rules to another device, or to give a colleague the same ones, save them as a file or copy the link. The link carries the rules and nothing else.

The check itself never rewrites your text. Where rewording is what a finding needs, a sentence that is too long or an expression with no ready replacement, its card has a button marked “The Verbarium AI”. Pressing it sends that one sentence to Google, whose model rewords it, together with the expression to do without or the longest sentence you allow, and the spelling you chose. Nothing else of your draft is sent. The new sentence takes the old one’s place in your text, a notice shows it to you, and “Undo the rewording” puts the old one back. The third setting, “Tone rewrite”, adds one more button at the end of the review while it is switched on. It sends the whole text as it stands, with your spelling choice, the expressions you avoid, the rules you switched on for contractions, sentence length and exclamation marks, and one line describing your usual style. The text comes back in a straight, plain tone: no emotion, no exaggeration, none of the stock words that make writing sound machine-made, and no fact, figure or name that is not in your text. Our server checks that before the new text takes the old one’s place, and that can be undone too. Switch the setting off and the button is not shown.

Questions & answers

Questions about the writing checker

Can I check writing without making a profile?

Yes. Choose “Do not check voice” and only your editorial rules are used, or start from one of the three profiles we provide.

How is a writing profile made?

You paste five to fifteen messages you were happy with. The page counts how long they run, how long the sentences are, how they open and end, whether you shorten “do not”, whether you write as “I” or “we”, and whether you use exclamation marks. You see every count, untick what is not you, and save the rest.

What is the difference between voice and editorial rules?

A rule is something a text either does or does not do, such as British spelling or one way of writing a date, and you decide whether it is required or only preferred. Voice is habit: what a profile finds is always a suggestion, never an error.

Does the checker rewrite my text?

No. It lists each place where the draft differs, with the reason, and you apply or keep each change. Rewording is the one job it can pass to The Verbarium AI, and only when you press a button for it. A button on a finding sends that sentence. With the setting “Tone rewrite” on, a button at the end of the results sends the whole text, which comes back rewritten in a straight, plain tone, keeping to your spelling, the expressions you avoid, your rules on contractions, sentence length and exclamation marks, and your writing style, with your facts, figures and names kept. The text is then checked again against all your rules. Either goes to Google, and the new wording is put into your text, where you can undo it.

Can a suggestion change the meaning?

A rule swaps one written form for another: a date for the same date in your format, “color” for “colour”. It can still be wrong for your sentence, inside a quotation or a name for example, which is why nothing is applied until you say so.

Where are my rules and profiles kept?

In your browser, on your own device. The samples you paste and the drafts you check are not sent anywhere or stored. You can save your rules as a file, or send them to a colleague as a link.

Is it free?

Yes. There is nothing to buy and no account to create. The tool is code that runs in your browser.

Does it check grammar?

No. It looks at the rules you switch on and the habits in your writing profile. It does not look for grammar mistakes, and the check does not judge tone: the tone rewrite, where it is offered, changes the tone only when you press it. Use a grammar checker as well: the guide “A Grammar Checker Caught 19 of Our 29 Planted Mistakes” reports our test of one.

What can I paste into it?

Any English text: an email, a notice, a web page, a product description. It reads plain text, so paste the words and not a file.

Can a team use the same rules?

Yes. Save your rules as a file or copy the link, and send either to a colleague. The link sets the same rules in their browser and carries nothing else.

What is the difference between “required” and “preferred”?

Where the finding appears in the review. Broken required rules come first, then what your reader could get wrong, then preferred rules, then differences from your profile. Every finding has the same buttons, and each one can be left as it is.

Guides

Practical reading on wording for work: emails, CVs, customer notices and product descriptions, with worked examples, tests we ran and checkers for your own text.