The following advice was given to a politician by his political consultant:
It is true that 200 apartment renters protested in the rain about the elimination of rent control regulation. However, there are 20,000 renters in the entire city. 19,800 of them stayed home and did not protest. The group that did not protest is much larger and better represents the opinion of renters throughout the city: that the elimination of rent control is not a problem. You should not let the small protest discourage you.
Describe how well the reasoning is in this. In the discussion be sure to analyze the line of reasoning and the use of evidence in the argument. For example, you may need to consider what questionable assumptions underlie the thinking and what alternative explanations or counter examples might weaken the arguments's conclusion. You may also address possible changes in the argument that would make it more logically sound and would help you to better evaluate its conclusion.
The consultant advised the politician to ignore the protest about the elimination of rent control because the protestors were not representative of the opinion of the general public. This conculsion is dubious; it is riddled with falsed logic, questionable assumptions and unwarranted causations.
The poltician arugment rests on the assumption that the protestors are not representative of the general opinion of all the apartment renters because only 1% of the renters partook in the protest. Although 1% of population seeems like a small number, the consultant fails to compare this protest relative to other similar protests. What is the average percentage of the population that protest? Is 1% too low or too high? There is no clear evidence that indicate 1% is really a small protest.
Even if the number of protestors seems small, it is possible that the protest represents the opinion of the general public. More often, only the most vocal opponents take to the street and express their dissatisfaction publically. The consultant lacks evidence to assert that the renters who did not protest would support the elimination of rent control. Plus, how do we know if weather did not play a factor? The fact that it rained on the day could be the main reason why only 200 renters were at the protest.
Moreover, even if it's a smaller number of renters who are dissatisfied with the regulation, the politican should still investigate further rather than take the adivce that the issue is not a problem. The politician should survey the renters to gather popular opinion before dismissing the issue. It is not clear that the protest is an one-off event. If the politician continues to ignore the issue, then the small problem could become a big problem further down the road.
Thus, the politican should be wary of the consultant's advise. He should not ignore the protest just because there are only 200 protestors. He should set up his team to further understand the issue before making any decisions in order to not alienate his consitutents further.
Sentence: The consultant advised the politician to ignore the protest about the elimination of rent control because the protestors were not representative of the opinion of the general public.
Error: protestors Suggestion: protesters
Sentence: This conculsion is dubious; it is riddled with falsed logic, questionable assumptions and unwarranted causations.
Error: falsed Suggestion: No alternate word
Error: conculsion Suggestion: conclusion
Sentence: The poltician arugment rests on the assumption that the protestors are not representative of the general opinion of all the apartment renters because only 1 of the renters partook in the protest.
Error: poltician Suggestion: politician
Error: protestors Suggestion: No alternate word
Error: arugment Suggestion: argument
Sentence: Although 1 of population seeems like a small number, the consultant fails to compare this protest relative to other similar protests.
Error: seeems Suggestion: seems
Sentence: Even if the number of protestors seems small, it is possible that the protest represents the opinion of the general public.
Error: protestors Suggestion: protesters
Sentence: More often, only the most vocal opponents take to the street and express their dissatisfaction publically.
Error: publically Suggestion: No alternate word
Sentence: Moreover, even if it's a smaller number of renters who are dissatisfied with the regulation, the politican should still investigate further rather than take the adivce that the issue is not a problem.
Error: politican Suggestion: political
Error: adivce Suggestion: advice
Sentence: Thus, the politican should be wary of the consultant's advise.
Error: politican Suggestion: political
Sentence: He should not ignore the protest just because there are only 200 protestors.
Error: protestors Suggestion: protesters
Sentence: He should set up his team to further understand the issue before making any decisions in order to not alienate his consitutents further.
Error: consitutents Suggestion: constituents
flaws:
No. of Spelling Errors: 14 2
Attribute Value Ideal
Score: 4.0 out of 6
Category: Good Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 0 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 14 2
No. of Sentences: 19 15
No. of Words: 341 350
No. of Characters: 1678 1500
No. of Different Words: 167 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.297 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.921 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.756 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 128 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 98 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 50 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 40 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 17.947 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 7.251 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.316 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.321 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.541 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.079 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5