Using Word 2007's Grammar Checker 

If you are creating a new document, Word's grammar checker will flag possible errors only after you type a complete sentence (i.e., you enter an end punctuation mark like a period), hit the spacebar and type the first letter of the first word of the next sentence or any punctuation that begins the next sentence, or after you hit Enter to start a new paragraph. Any word or phrase that Word believes contains a possible grammar error it will underscore with a wavy green line:

If you are opening an existing document, by default Word's grammar checker will check the text for errors automatically and if it finds any after a second or two you will see wavy green lines appear throughout the text of the entire document:

If you don't see any wavy green lines after you have finished creating a new document or after you open an existing one, it's possible that you're a grammatical genius and didn't make any errors. It's also possible that an existing document may have already been grammar-checked. However, to make sure that the copy of Word that you're using has not had its grammar check option turned off (a possibility especially if you're using a computer in a public lab), do the following:

I. Click the Office Button.
II. In the window that pops up, click on the Word Options button.
III. In the menu on the left side of the Word Options window that pops up, click on the item Proofing.
IV. In the table that appears on the right, under the section "When correcting spelling and grammar in Word" make sure there are checks in the boxes labeled "Mark grammar errors as you type" and "Check grammar with spelling." If either of these boxes is not checked, click on it to put a check mark in it.
V. Click on the OK button at the bottom of the Word Options window.

Note: Make sure you also check your Reference(s) section for red, green and blue lines. No doubt some unusual names will be red-lined:

Only after you've verified that you've indeed spelled these names correctly by checking your source again should you go ahead and add them to Word's spelling dictionary by right-clicking anywhere on the "misspelled" word and then clicking on Add to Dictionary in the contextual menu so that the red line(s) will disappear:

The same thing may happen with text from a reading source that you quote verbatim in your essay; if you do see red, green or blue lines in a quotation, just verify that you copied everything correctly from the source, and if you have you can ignore these flags within quotes.

And as illustrated above, most likely Word will green-line the listing of all authors' names, the titles of books and articles and other bibliographic names as sentence "fragments." Because there is clearly nothing wrong with these, these also you can right-click on and for each one hit the Ignore Once item in the contextual menu:

Again, you should do each of these individually until these "Fragment (consider revising)" green-lined "errors" are all gone:

However, as the above screen grab illustrates, even after you clear the false "fragment" errors, there may still be some legitimate grammar errors in this section that you'll need to attend to. So in the example above Word is showing you that there is an incorrect extra space before the period that's needed at the end of all Reference(s) entries, so you'll have to correct that error before you submit your essay to me.

Another reason that you may not see any grammar errors even if you checked that Word is set to flag them as described above is that you haven't made the following changes to Word 2007's default "Require" settings of the Grammar Only writing style that I require you to make :

1. Click the Office Button.
2. In the window that pops up, click on the Word Options button.
3. In the menu on the left side of the Word Options window that pops up, click on the item Proofing.
4. (Note: This and the remaining steps can be performed only if a document, blank or with text, is open in Word.) In the table that appears on the right, under the section "When correcting spelling and grammar in Word" check that the item showing in the drop-down menu labeled "Writing Style:" is "Grammar Only."
If the item showing in the menu is "Grammar & Style," click on the down arrow and then click on the "Grammar Only" option.
5. Click the "Settings..." button to the right of the "Writing Style:" drop-down menu.
6. In the Grammar Settings dialog box that pops up, under the "Require" section of the "Grammar and style options:" field click the down arrow of the menu box labeled "Comma required before last list item:."
7. Click on either the option "always" or the option "never"; do NOT leave the "don't check" item in the box.
8. Also under the "Require" section, click the down arrow of the menu box labeled "Punctuation required with quotes:."
9. Click on the option "inside"; don't select the option "outside" and do NOT leave the "don't check" item in the box.
10. Click the down arrow of the last menu box of the "Require" section, namely the one labeled "Spaces required between sentences:."
11. Click on either the option "1" or the option "2"; do NOT leave the "don't check" item in the box.
12. Click on the OK button at the bottom of the Grammar Settings dialog box.
13. Back in the Word Options window and again in the table that appears on the right, at the bottom of the section "When correcting spelling and grammar in Word" click the button that will be labeled either  "Check Document" or "Recheck Document."
14. If the button you clicked was labeled "Recheck Document," i.e., if you made changes to the spelling and grammar settings with an existing document open or after entering text into a blank document, a dialog box will pop up. Click the Yes button of this dialog box.
15. Click on the OK button at the bottom of the Grammar Settings dialog box.

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