Grammar Checker for Arabic Speakers
L1-aware grammar, paraphrasing, and translation tuned to the specific transfer patterns Arabic speakers face when writing English — from academic abstracts to business correspondence.
What makes English harder for Arabic speakers?
Arabic and English mark sentences through very different grammars — articles, copulas, and clause connection all behave in ways that show up in Arabic-authored English at high frequency.
Arabic uses the definite article al- (الـ) on most contextually-known nouns, including generic concepts (al-'ilm = "the science"). Arabic writers carry this habit over and oversupply "the" before generic English nouns. Arabic also drops the copula in present-tense nominal sentences (al-bait kabir = "the house big"), so "The result significant" feels structurally complete.
Coordination is the third high-frequency category. Arabic favours and-coordination using wa- (و) over English-style subordination, so Arabic-authored English often has 4-6 "and"-linked clauses in a single sentence. Modern Standard Arabic academic register is also highly formal, which carries over as stilted English ("It is worth mentioning that..." opening every paragraph).
Diglot's Grammar Checker is calibrated for these Arabic-L1 patterns: the article checker flags over-supplied "the" on abstract nouns, the copula checker catches dropped "is/are," and the sentence-length analyzer detects run-on coordination chains.
Top Arabic-to-English transfer patterns Diglot catches
| Pattern | Example error | Corrected |
|---|---|---|
| "The" over-supplied on generic nouns | "The science is the foundation of the human progress." | "Science is the foundation of human progress." |
| Missing "is/are" before adjective | "The result significant at p < 0.05." | "The result is significant at p < 0.05." |
| Run-on from wa- coordination | "We collected the data and we analyzed it and we found three trends and they confirmed our hypothesis." | "We collected the data, analyzed it, and found three trends that confirmed our hypothesis." |
| Resumptive pronoun in relative clause | "The sample which we collected it last week showed contamination." | "The sample we collected last week showed contamination." |
| Transitive verb with extra "about" | "We discussed about the implications in the next section." | "We discussed the implications in the next section." |
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Guides for Arabic speakers
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Diglot combines L1-aware grammar checking, paraphrasing, translation, and originality verification in one workspace — built for Arabic speakers writing English.
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Each L1 has its own transfer-pattern profile — pick yours for the patterns Diglot specifically addresses.
Frequently asked questions
- Why do Arabic writers oversupply "the" in English?
- Arabic's definite article al- (الـ) attaches to most contextually-known nouns, including generic abstract concepts (al-'ilm = "the science"). Arabic writers carry this habit over to English, producing "The science is the foundation of the human progress." English uses no article for generic mass nouns. Diglot flags the over-supply as an Arabic-L1 pattern and suggests the correct bare form.
- How does Diglot handle Arabic-style long sentences?
- Arabic favours coordination with wa- (و) over subordination, so Arabic-authored English often chains 4-6 clauses with "and" in a single sentence. Diglot detects long sentences with 3+ "and" coordinators and suggests structural splits that preserve the meaning while improving English readability for reviewers.
- Is Diglot useful for Modern Standard Arabic writers, dialect speakers, or both?
- Both. The English transfer patterns operate at the level of grammatical systems that all Arabic varieties share — al- definite article, present-tense copula omission, wa- coordination preference, resumptive pronouns in relative clauses. Whether the writer's spoken Arabic is Egyptian, Levantine, Gulf, or MSA, the English issues are the same.
