TPO 33: CARVED STONE BALLSReading:Carved stone balls are a curious type of artifact found at a number of locations in Scotland. They date from the late Neolithic period, around 4,000 years ago. They are round in shape; they were carved from several types

In the passage titled, 'Carved Stone Balls', the writer presents three possible theories to explain the purpose and meanings of the stone balls, all of which were contradicted by the professor, during the course of a lecture.

The first theory that the writer presents is that the stone balls were used in hunting or fighting, bolstering this with evidence that the stone balls have holes in them and grooves on their surface. The professor contradicts this theory by asking a logical question; 'If the common Neolithic weapons such as arrowheads and hand axes generally show signs of wear, why shouldn't the stone balls also depict wears?' The stone balls should show cracks or signs of broken pieces if they were actually used in hunting or fighting but no, they were perfectly preserved. The theory as it stands, has got no basis.

The writer presents another theory, 'The stone balls were used as part of a primitive system of weights and measures'. This, he supports with the obvious fact that the stones were of the same diameter - about 70 mm in diameter. The professor refutes that theory with elaborate contradictory views, stating that, 'Though remarkably uniform in size, their masses vary just too considerably to have been used as uniform weights'. He explains that the carved stone balls were made of different types of stones - sandstone, green stone and quartzite which were of varying masses and thus, were not accurate systems of measures.

The last theory that the writer presents is the use of the stone balls as symbols of social status because of the elaborate designs on some of the stones. The professor totally counters this with two proofs. One, while some stones possess intricate patterns, others have extremely simple markings. Thus, the stones couldn't have been used to depict social status. Two, in Neolithic Britain, when a person - a high ranking person in particular - died, the belongings of that person was buried along with the corpse. Evidence show that no carved stone balls were found in tombs. Thus, this theory is practically wrong.

The professor counter the three theories presented by the writer in the reading passage with elaborate evidences that all three theories were logically and practically incorrect. "None of the three theories presented in the reading passage are very convincing', he says.

Votes
Average: 7.3 (1 vote)
Essay Categories

Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 1, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
In the passage titled, Carved Stone Ball...
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Line 1, column 204, Rule ID: DURING_THE_COURSE_OF[1]
Message: Use simply 'during'.
Suggestion: during
...ich were contradicted by the professor, during the course of a lecture. The first theor...
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Line 3, column 1, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...sor, during the course of a lecture. The first theory that the writer present...
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Line 3, column 378, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: shouldn't
... axes generally show signs of wear, why shouldnt the stone balls also depict wears? The ...
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Line 3, column 422, Rule ID: ENGLISH_WORD_REPEAT_BEGINNING_RULE
Message: Three successive sentences begin with the same word. Reword the sentence or use a thesaurus to find a synonym.
...ldnt the stone balls also depict wears? The stone balls should show cracks or signs...
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Line 3, column 572, Rule ID: ENGLISH_WORD_REPEAT_BEGINNING_RULE
Message: Three successive sentences begin with the same word. Reword the sentence or use a thesaurus to find a synonym.
... but no, they were perfectly preserved. The theory as it stands, has got no basis. ...
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Line 5, column 1, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
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...eory as it stands, has got no basis. The writer presents another theory, The ...
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Line 5, column 11, Rule ID: ENGLISH_WORD_REPEAT_BEGINNING_RULE
Message: Three successive sentences begin with the same word. Reword the sentence or use a thesaurus to find a synonym.
... stands, has got no basis. The writer presents another theory, The sto...
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Line 7, column 1, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
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...re not accurate systems of measures. The last theory that the writer presents...
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Line 7, column 147, Rule ID: SOME_OF_THE[1]
Message: Simply use 'some'.
Suggestion: some
...tus because of the elaborate designs on some of the stones. The professor totally counters ...
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Line 7, column 327, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: couldn't
...emely simple markings. Thus, the stones couldnt have been used to depict social status....
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Line 9, column 1, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
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Suggestion:
...s, this theory is practically wrong. The professor counter the three theories...
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Transition Words or Phrases used:
actually, also, but, first, if, so, thus, while, in particular, such as

Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments

Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 18.0 10.4613686534 172% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 1.0 5.04856512141 20% => OK
Conjunction : 11.0 7.30242825607 151% => OK
Relative clauses : 14.0 12.0772626932 116% => OK
Pronoun: 24.0 22.412803532 107% => OK
Preposition: 45.0 30.3222958057 148% => OK
Nominalization: 3.0 5.01324503311 60% => More nominalizations (nouns with a suffix like: tion ment ence ance) wanted.

Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1965.0 1373.03311258 143% => OK
No of words: 385.0 270.72406181 142% => Less content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.1038961039 5.08290768461 100% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.4296068528 4.04702891845 109% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.46307375261 2.5805825403 95% => OK
Unique words: 189.0 145.348785872 130% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.490909090909 0.540411800872 91% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 586.8 419.366225166 140% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.55342163355 97% => OK

A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 6.0 3.25607064018 184% => OK
Article: 13.0 8.23620309051 158% => OK
Subordination: 4.0 1.25165562914 320% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 0.0 1.51434878587 0% => OK
Preposition: 3.0 2.5761589404 116% => OK

Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 18.0 13.0662251656 138% => OK
Sentence length: 21.0 21.2450331126 99% => OK
Sentence length SD: 60.928819024 49.2860985944 124% => OK
Chars per sentence: 109.166666667 110.228320801 99% => OK
Words per sentence: 21.3888888889 21.698381199 99% => OK
Discourse Markers: 3.94444444444 7.06452816374 56% => More transition words/phrases wanted.
Paragraphs: 5.0 4.09492273731 122% => OK
Language errors: 12.0 4.19205298013 286% => Less language errors wanted.
Sentences with positive sentiment : 4.0 4.33554083885 92% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 8.0 4.45695364238 179% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 6.0 4.27373068433 140% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?

Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.492284501568 0.272083759551 181% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.168935871361 0.0996497079465 170% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.11372811673 0.0662205650399 172% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.275834540011 0.162205337803 170% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.133061230474 0.0443174109184 300% => More connections among paragraphs wanted.

Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 13.3 13.3589403974 100% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 58.62 53.8541721854 109% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 5.55761589404 56% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 10.3 11.0289183223 93% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.3 12.2367328918 101% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.33 8.42419426049 99% => OK
difficult_words: 89.0 63.6247240618 140% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 17.5 10.7273730684 163% => OK
gunning_fog: 10.4 10.498013245 99% => OK
text_standard: 10.0 11.2008830022 89% => OK
What are above readability scores?

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Write the essay in 20 minutes.

Rates: 73.3333333333 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 22.0 Out of 30
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Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.