The assumed authority of the Microsoft grammar checker, combined with its ubiquity, make it arguably the most powerful prescriptive language force in the world at this point. These writers may feel some compunction to obey the grammar checker, assuming it to be a reliable authority that is alerting the writer to a confirmed error. A significant number of writers, however, do not know how to turn off the grammar checker, which is on by default, or do not have the confidence to turn off and/or ignore the grammar checker. There are at least three ways to make the green line go away in this sentence: (a) turn off the grammar checker entirely (b) click “ignore” when the grammar checker suggests changing the sentence or (c) change the sentence, replacing the word which with that or revising the syntax so that it doesn’t require a relative pronoun (e.g., this chapter’s opening sentence). The Microsoft grammar checker perpetuates the idea that the relative pronouns which and that are not interchangeable in a restrictive relative clause such as the sentence _ opens this chapter. It puts a green squiggly line under the string of words which opens this chapter and suggests the following rewording: that opens this chapter.
The sentence which opens this chapter (and which you are reading right now) has made the Microsoft Word Grammar Checker (MSGC) unhappy.
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