Grammarly isn’t just a grammar checker—it’s a full-fledged AI-powered writing assistant designed to help you write better, faster, and more confidently. Whether you’re crafting a travel blog, a LinkedIn post, or a casual tweet, Grammarly adjusts its feedback based on your intent, audience, and formality.
But many users miss the point: Grammarly is most effective when you tell it what you’re trying to do. That’s where the Goals feature comes in. It’s the secret sauce behind making your writing correct and impactful.
How Does Grammarly Work?
At its core, Grammarly uses artificial intelligence and natural language processing to scan your writing for grammar, spelling, punctuation, clarity, tone, and engagement. It’s powered by algorithms trained on millions of sentence patterns, making its suggestions surprisingly intuitive.
It works across devices—via a browser extension, mobile keyboard, Microsoft Word add-in, and its native web editor. When you’re typing, Grammarly’s green “G” icon silently tracks your text and flags areas that could be clearer, more concise, or more appropriate for your audience.
But here’s the catch: the best results come when you set your writing goals.
What Are Grammarly’s “Goals”?
Grammarly Premium users can customize their writing feedback based on the following settings:
- Intent (Inform, Describe, Convince, Tell a Story)
- Audience (General, Knowledgeable, Expert)
- Formality (Informal, Neutral, Formal)
- Domain (Academic, Business, General, Email, Creative, Casual)
Each of these options shifts how Grammarly analyzes your writing. Think of it as switching lenses—each combination highlights different aspects to improve.
Best Grammarly Settings for Different Writing Scenarios
Let’s break it down by type of writing:
🧳 Travel Blog Post
Recommended Goals:
- Intent: Tell a Story
- Audience: General
- Formality: Neutral
- Domain: Creative
When describing the colors of a Moroccan souk or the silence of a Finnish forest, you want Grammarly to preserve your voice, not flatten it into a corporate report. Use the “Creative” domain to avoid grammar corrections that would otherwise stifle storytelling rhythm, and the “Tell a Story” intent to encourage narrative flow over sterile precision.
📲 Social Media Post
Recommended Goals:
- Intent: Convince or Inform
- Audience: General
- Formality: Informal
- Domain: Casual
Social media thrives on snappy, engaging language. Set Grammarly to “Casual” for sentence fragments, slang, and emojis. If your goal is engagement or persuasion, like getting users to sign up or react, choose “Convince” as your intent. This combo helps Grammarly prioritize tone and impact over strict grammar.
💼 Professional Email or LinkedIn Article
Recommended Goals:
- Intent: Inform or Convince
- Audience: Knowledgeable or Expert
- Formality: Formal
- Domain: Business or Email
Here, Grammarly will flag casual words, unclear references, or contractions that might seem unprofessional. This setup ensures you’re taken seriously and that your tone matches a corporate or executive audience.
🎓 Academic Essay
Recommended Goals:
- Intent: Inform
- Audience: Expert
- Formality: Formal
- Domain: Academic
This is Grammarly at its strictest. Expect flags on contractions, colloquialisms, vague language, and passive voice. It will push your writing toward the precision and clarity expected in academic writing.
🎙️ YouTube Video Script
Recommended Goals:
- Intent: Tell a Story or Describe
- Audience: General
- Formality: Neutral
- Domain: Creative
When writing a video script, you want natural flow and engaging language, especially for storytelling or educational content. “Tell a Story” helps with narrative pacing, while “Creative” keeps your tone conversational and avoids overcorrecting informal speech patterns—great for scripts you’ll read out loud.
🛒 E-commerce Product Description
Recommended Goals:
- Intent: Convince
- Audience: General or Knowledgeable
- Formality: Neutral
- Domain: Business
Here, clarity and persuasion are key. “Convince” pushes Grammarly to focus on powerful, direct phrasing that helps sell. Choosing the “Business” domain encourages clean, polished writing while allowing a little personality if needed. It is perfect for Shopify, Amazon, or landing pages.
🧠 Mental Health or Wellness Blog
Recommended Goals:
- Intent: Describe or Inform
- Audience: General
- Formality: Neutral
- Domain: Creative or General
Tone matters immensely in wellness content. You want to sound caring, empathetic, and transparent. Choosing “Describe” or “Inform” keeps Grammarly focused on clarity and emotional tone without turning the content too technical. The “Creative” domain allows emotional nuance and softer language.
💬 Customer Service Chat or Email
Recommended Goals:
- Intent: Inform
- Audience: General
- Formality: Neutral or Formal (based on tone of brand)
- Domain: Email or Business
Grammarly helps support teams keep replies polite, helpful, and professional. Using the “Inform” intent and “Email” domain ensures the tool catches passive-aggressive tone, overly long sentences, or ambiguous phrasing. This setting ensures your brand’s voice remains calm and helpful.
Fiction Writing or Short Story
Recommended Goals:
- Intent: Tell a Story
- Audience: General
- Formality: Informal or Neutral
- Domain: Creative
This combo keeps Grammarly’s helpful feedback but not intrusive for authors, screenwriters, or anyone working on fictional content. It won’t flag imaginative sentence structures, metaphors, or poetic phrasing. It enhances readability without muting creativity.
📝 Technical Documentation or User Manual
Recommended Goals:
- Intent: Inform
- Audience: Expert
- Formality: Formal
- Domain: Business or General
In tech writing, precision is everything. Grammarly in this mode ensures that jargon is used correctly, instructions are clear, and passive constructions are minimized. It also helps catch clunky phrasing that might
✍️ Personal Journal Entry
Recommended Goals:
- Intent: Tell a Story or Describe
- Audience: General (or leave as is if it’s private)
- Formality: Informal
- Domain: Creative
Even private writers can benefit from Grammarly’s help with clarity and flow. The “Creative” domain allows stream-of-consciousness writing without interruptions from grammar alerts, while the tone suggestions can help you reflect more clearly on your experiences.
Quick Guide: How to Use Grammarly Goals for Tailored Writing Feedback
Step 1: Log In
- Go to grammarly.com and log in to your account.
- Grammarly Premium users will have full access to the Goals feature.
Step 2: Start a New Document
- In the Grammarly Web Editor, click on New Document.
- Alternatively, use the Grammarly extension in your browser or apps like MS Word.
Step 3: Set Your Goals
- Look at the top right or left of the Grammarly editor for a button labeled “Goals” (or click the compass icon 🧭 if using a browser extension).
- You’ll be prompted to choose from the following categories:Audience: General, Knowledgeable, or Expert
- Formality: Informal, Neutral, or Formal
- Domain: General, Academic, Business, Email, Creative, or Casual (only available in Premium)
- Intent: Inform, Describe, Convince, or Tell a Story
Step 4: Apply the Settings Based on Your Content Type
- Use the downloadable chart or infographic to match your writing type with the right goal combination.(e.g., A YouTube script = Intent: Tell a Story, Audience: General, Formality: Neutral, Domain: Creative)
Step 5: Write or Paste Your Text
- Grammarly will now tailor suggestions based on your selected goals.
- Suggestions will adapt in tone, vocabulary, clarity, and style, depending on your choice.
Step 6: Review and Revise
- Click on underlined words and phrases to see Grammarly’s suggestions.
- Use the “Overall Score” panel to check readability, clarity, engagement, and delivery.
- Re-adjust your goals if needed to see how feedback changes.
Bonus Tip: Try Grammarly’s Tone Detector to see how your message emotionally lands with readers.
Grammarly’s New Document Screen: Features That Go Beyond Grammar
When you open a new document in Grammarly, you’re not just getting a blank page—you’re stepping into a powerful AI-driven workspace designed to make your writing smarter, faster, and more authentic. Here are the top features you’ll find on the New Document screen, and how they can supercharge your writing:
✅ Review Suggestions
This is where Grammarly’s AI does its magic. As you write or paste content, Grammarly automatically scans your text and highlights improvements for:
- Grammar and Spelling
- Clarity and Readability
- Tone and Delivery
- Word Choice and Sentence Structure
Suggestions are tailored based on the Goals you’ve selected (audience, intent, formality, and domain), ensuring the feedback fits the context of your writing—whether it’s a blog post, professional email, or social caption.
✍️ Write with Generative AI
Need help starting or rewording something? Click the “Write with AI” button (the magic wand icon). Grammarly’s generative AI can:
- Generate new paragraphs or ideas from a prompt
- Rewrite awkward sentences
- Summarize long blocks of text
- Help you brainstorm introductions or catchy headlines
Perfect for bloggers or creators who sometimes hit a wall and need a quick creativity boost.
🔍 Check for AI-Generated Text
Grammarly includes a tool to detect if a piece of text sounds like it was written by AI, which is especially helpful for:
- Teachers and editors who need originality verification
- Freelancers or clients checking outsourced content
- Anyone curious about their writing’s “human-ness”
While not 100% definitive, it gives a general idea of whether your writing feels naturally human or overly robotic.
📚 Plagiarism Checker
For students, bloggers, and professionals alike, Grammarly’s Plagiarism Checker compares your content against billions of web pages and academic papers to flag any potential issues. It:
- Highlights copied or overly similar text
- Shows the exact source it’s matching
- Helps ensure your writing is both ethical and original
This tool is essential if you’re publishing content online or submitting academic or professional work.
Bonus Tip: Don’t Ignore the Tone Detector
Grammarly also includes a tone detector that gives real-time feedback on how your message may come across—friendly, formal, concerned, confident, etc. If you’re posting a tweet that sounds unintentionally aggressive or writing an email that reads too casually, tone suggestions help you adjust before you hit send.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Not setting goals: Grammarly defaults to general suggestions. If you don’t set your goals, it may give you mismatched or confusing feedback.
- Over-correcting: Not all Grammarly suggestions need to be accepted. Think of it as an intelligent assistant, not a final editor.
- Relying on the free version for nuanced work: The free version catches basic errors, but the Premium version unlocks clarity, tone, and advanced stylistic feedback, which benefits professional and creative work.
Final Thoughts: Let Grammarly Work With You
The beauty of Grammarly lies in its adaptive nature. But it shines brightest when you actively guide it. Whether you’re writing a heartfelt blog post, a quirky caption, or a high-stakes cover letter, setting the right Goals transforms Grammarly from a simple checker into a true writing partner.
So next time you open Grammarly, don’t skip the Goals tab—it could be the difference between “just okay” and brilliant.
Have you tried adjusting your Grammarly Goals yet? Share your experience in the comments—or better yet, write your next blog post with the right settings and see the difference.
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