The following appeared in the summary of a study on headaches suffered by the residents of Mentia.
"Salicylates are members of the same chemical family as aspirin, a medicine used to treat headaches. Although many foods are naturally rich in salicylates, for the past several decades, food-processing companies have also been adding salicylates to foods as preservatives. This rise in the commercial use of salicylates has been found to correlate with a steady decline in the average number of headaches reported by participants in our twenty-year study. Recently, food-processing companies have found that salicylates can also be used as flavor additives for foods. With this new use for salicylates, we can expect a continued steady decline in the number of headaches suffered by the average citizen of Mentia."
Write a response in which you examine the stated and/or unstated assumptions of the argument. Be sure to explain how the argument depends on these assumptions and what the implications are for the argument if the assumptions prove unwarranted.
The Study says that with the new found use of salicylates as a new flavour the average number of headaches will decrease in Mentia. He presents this case because Salicylates belongs to the same family as aspirin and also the reports of the twenty year study. However the following issues must be taken into account before a reasonable conclusion can be drawn out.
Firstly , Although Salicylates and Aspirin belong to the same family there is no guarantee that they show the same properties. Maybe Aspirin helps to reduce headache whereas Salicylates may not have any effect on headache. An example is that of methyl and ethyl alcohol which belong to the same family but methyl alcohol is dangerous and extremely harmful whereas Ethyl alcohol is used in various medicines and also as a beverage. If the is true then the basic assumption on which the report is based could be false.
Secondly, We can see that there has been a twenty year study that states the steady decline in headaches with rise in use of salicylates. Maybe the people who took part in the survey were leading less stressful lives than the average person. Maybe the survey was biased towards old aged people who had less headaches and experienced less headaches. It could also have been the case that the food habits of the people surveyed were not considered.
Generally, Too much of anything is bad for health and could have the opposite of the intended effects. Maybe salicylates in limited quantities as a preservative could aid in less headaches whereas as a flavour in large quantities can be very potent and in turn cause more headache. If this is true then it would end up causing more headaches, which is the opposite of the intended effect.
Lastly, There is no guarantee that the people of Mentia would prefer processed food over natural organic food. Maybe Mantia is situated in a rural part of the country and people prefer homegrown natural food over pre-processed food. Maybe the residents on Mentis are more health conscious and do not prefer preserved or artificially flavoured food. If this argument is true then the report doesn't hold water.
The Study is severely flawed with a lot of inherent bias and unwarranted assumptions. If any of these above assumptions is true then the report would be wrong. If the author is able to answer all the above questions with more evidence( scientific and systematic surveys , models followed by other competitors), then it is possible to fully validate the viability of the proposal the report has proposed.
Comments
e-rater score report
Attribute Value Ideal
Final score: 4.0 out of 6
Category: Good Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 11 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 10 2
No. of Sentences: 21 15
No. of Words: 432 350
No. of Characters: 2067 1500
No. of Different Words: 213 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.559 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.785 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.513 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 148 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 102 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 69 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 45 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 20.571 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 6.772 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.667 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.295 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.295 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.098 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 1 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 260, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: However,
...o the reports of the twenty year study. However the following issues must be taken into...
^^^^^^^
Line 2, column 8, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Put a space after the comma, but not before the comma
Suggestion: ,
...le conclusion can be drawn out. Firstly , Although Salicylates and Aspirin belong...
^^
Line 2, column 431, Rule ID: SENTENCE_FRAGMENT[1]
Message: “If” at the beginning of a sentence requires a 2nd clause. Maybe a comma, question or exclamation mark is missing, or the sentence is incomplete and should be joined with the following sentence.
...rious medicines and also as a beverage. If the is true then the basic assumption o...
^^
Line 3, column 36, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...se. Secondly, We can see that there has been a twenty year study that states the...
^^
Line 3, column 303, Rule ID: FEWER_LESS[2]
Message: Did you mean 'fewer'? The noun headaches is countable.
Suggestion: fewer
... biased towards old aged people who had less headaches and experienced less headache...
^^^^
Line 3, column 334, Rule ID: FEWER_LESS[2]
Message: Did you mean 'fewer'? The noun headaches is countable.
Suggestion: fewer
... who had less headaches and experienced less headaches. It could also have been the ...
^^^^
Line 4, column 174, Rule ID: FEWER_LESS[2]
Message: Did you mean 'fewer'? The noun headaches is countable.
Suggestion: fewer
...antities as a preservative could aid in less headaches whereas as a flavour in large...
^^^^
Line 5, column 349, Rule ID: SENTENCE_FRAGMENT[1]
Message: “If” at the beginning of a sentence requires a 2nd clause. Maybe a comma, question or exclamation mark is missing, or the sentence is incomplete and should be joined with the following sentence.
...eserved or artificially flavoured food. If this argument is true then the report d...
^^
Line 5, column 390, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: doesn't
...f this argument is true then the report doesnt hold water. The Study is severely flaw...
^^^^^^
Line 6, column 86, Rule ID: SENTENCE_FRAGMENT[1]
Message: “If” at the beginning of a sentence requires a 2nd clause. Maybe a comma, question or exclamation mark is missing, or the sentence is incomplete and should be joined with the following sentence.
...erent bias and unwarranted assumptions. If any of these above assumptions is true ...
^^
Line 6, column 268, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Put a space after the comma, but not before the comma
Suggestion: ,
...idence scientific and systematic surveys , models followed by other competitors, t...
^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, but, first, firstly, however, if, lastly, may, second, secondly, so, then, whereas
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 27.0 19.6327345309 138% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 13.0 12.9520958084 100% => OK
Conjunction : 14.0 11.1786427146 125% => OK
Relative clauses : 12.0 13.6137724551 88% => OK
Pronoun: 17.0 28.8173652695 59% => OK
Preposition: 48.0 55.5748502994 86% => OK
Nominalization: 3.0 16.3942115768 18% => More nominalizations (nouns with a suffix like: tion ment ence ance) wanted.
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2107.0 2260.96107784 93% => OK
No of words: 431.0 441.139720559 98% => OK
Chars per words: 4.88863109049 5.12650576532 95% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.55637350225 4.56307096286 100% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.58467843126 2.78398813304 93% => OK
Unique words: 215.0 204.123752495 105% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.498839907193 0.468620217663 106% => OK
syllable_count: 682.2 705.55239521 97% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.59920159681 100% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 3.0 4.96107784431 60% => OK
Article: 3.0 8.76447105788 34% => OK
Subordination: 6.0 2.70958083832 221% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 0.0 1.67365269461 0% => OK
Preposition: 0.0 4.22255489022 0% => More preposition wanted as sentence beginning.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 21.0 19.7664670659 106% => OK
Sentence length: 20.0 22.8473053892 88% => OK
Sentence length SD: 41.9779663617 57.8364921388 73% => OK
Chars per sentence: 100.333333333 119.503703932 84% => OK
Words per sentence: 20.5238095238 23.324526521 88% => OK
Discourse Markers: 4.19047619048 5.70786347227 73% => OK
Paragraphs: 6.0 5.15768463074 116% => OK
Language errors: 11.0 5.25449101796 209% => Less language errors wanted.
Sentences with positive sentiment : 8.0 8.20758483034 97% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 8.0 6.88822355289 116% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 5.0 4.67664670659 107% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.242030425932 0.218282227539 111% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0660453963244 0.0743258471296 89% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0636657651154 0.0701772020484 91% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.115334851533 0.128457276422 90% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0685599031275 0.0628817314937 109% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 11.9 14.3799401198 83% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 51.18 48.3550499002 106% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 7.1628742515 43% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 11.1 12.197005988 91% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 11.08 12.5979740519 88% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.37 8.32208582834 101% => OK
difficult_words: 102.0 98.500998004 104% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 11.0 12.3882235529 89% => OK
gunning_fog: 10.0 11.1389221557 90% => OK
text_standard: 12.0 11.9071856287 101% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Rates: 58.33 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 3.5 Out of 6
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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.