Studying English with ChatGPT's Assistance

Although it’s highly exceptional, I am writing this journal entry in the evening, instead of in the morning like I usually do. The reason is that I anticipate being quite busy tomorrow, since I have an online English lesson in the evening, right after dinner. I’d like to finish writing this entry tonight so that tomorrow I will have enough time to study the versions that have been proofread by ChatGPT.

Typically, I write about 350 words in each journal entry mostly on my own, with the occasional assistance of the English dictionaries on my computer. Subsequently, I get it proofread by ChatGPT and have it rewritten, first in American English, then in British English. I compare my original writing with the American and British versions to identify the areas for improvement. 

What I’ve noticed so far is that my written English is more closely aligned with British English compared to American, in the sense that I get fewer corrections in the former than in the latter. Maybe it’s because I’ve been living in Singapore for a long time, where the local variation of English is mostly based on British English, at least as far as the written language goes. Expressions like “wait in a queue” and “alight the train” are commonly used here, which might sound a bit odd for speakers of American English.

Since my personal preference is American English, I pay closer attention to how my original writing differs from the American version by ChatGPT. Sometimes it gets changed quite a bit in a way that surprises me, but when I see that the British version has largely retained the elements of my own writing, I take comfort in knowing that at least I’m writing English grammatically.

Granted, since I am not an AI robot, it’s literally humanly impossible for me to write in a way that closely resembles the proofread version by ChatGPT. However, I find this writing practice hugely beneficial, because through decades of studying, my English has been set in a certain way, and it’s very difficult to get my particular tendencies corrected without the assistance of artificial intelligence. We are so lucky to be studying English in the age of AI, and I intend to take full advantage of modern technology to become proficient in the language.