Hello,

Thanks for your comment, Cindy ;-).

It is true that the Office XP French grammar checker
behaves differently from the one that was used in earlier
versions of Word. The current grammar checker is in fact
the first version of a product developed by our group. The
change was made on the basis of numerous reactions from
users who pointed out that the previous grammar checker
too frequently considered correct sentences as wrong,
which was both cumbersome and little useful. Our research
has shown that most users in fact switched off that
grammar checker because of those 'false flags'.
Our goal in replacing that product was to provide a tool
that would be more discrete and more reliable when it
comes to spotting real mistakes. It would therefore be
less intrusive and more useful. This being said, this new
tool does not spot a certain number of mistakes, but its
precision is much better than the previous product.

Now, very good news for you: we have worked on an improved
version of the French grammar checker which spots a lot
more mistakes while remaining very precise (and it does
correct the things you mention - *le maison...). This
version will be made available to users in a few weeks.

As to the spell-checker problems, there has not been any
change between the 2000 and the XP versions, so if you can
provide a more specific example of what kind of problem
you experience, we'll be glad to have a look at them.

I hope this is useful,

Best wishes,

Thierry

Thierry Fontenelle  [MSFT]
Microsoft Natural Language Group