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Word's grammar checker is calibrated for documents, not for fiction. And even for documents, it is a bit of automated software, that is bound to make mistakes. You shouldn't trust it implicitly, an...
Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed
by
System
·
2019-12-12T21:57:34Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/42217 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added
by
System
·
2019-12-08T10:53:28Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/42217 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
Word's grammar checker is calibrated for documents, not for fiction. And even for documents, it is a bit of automated software, that is bound to make mistakes. You shouldn't trust it implicitly, and you shouldn't let it bully you. As @DoubleU states in a comment, your original sentence is perfectly grammatically correct. In fact, adding a semicolon there would be incorrect and weird. (I do actually use semicolons. I would never put one there.) A semicolon connects two independent clauses, you could sort of replace it with "and". ([Here](https://www.grammarly.com/blog/semicolon/) is more information.) But in your case, the clauses are not independent. If you stick an "and" there, as you've tried to do, you slightly change the meaning of the phrase. You imply that the absence of empathy in Elena's voice is independent from her being analytical. Which is not the case, is it?
#1: Imported from external source
by
System
·
2019-02-13T23:41:28Z (almost 6 years ago)
Original score: 10