Archaeologists have long thought that an artifact called the pemchint was used by Dodecan people solely as a musical instrument. Pemchints consist of hollowed pieces of bone, shell, or wood that are tied together with long straps. When whirled in the air, the pemchints create pleasant tones. Until recently, pemchints were found only at locations known to be used for Dodecan rituals and celebrations. Additionally, they were always excavated in proximity to other musical artifacts. Recently, however, a pemchint was found along with Dodecan hunters' tools located miles from the nearest known Dodecan settlement, while no other music-related objects were found in the area. Clearly, then, the pemchint was used by Dodecan hunters, who most probably used the sounds to repel dangerous wildlife.
Write a response in which you discuss one or more alternative explanations that could rival the proposed explanation and explain how your explanation(s) can plausibly account for the facts presented in the argument.
The author claims that the pemchint, an artifact used by the Dodecan people, was used by the Dodecan hunters probably to intimidate the dangerous wildlife while hunting. The author comes to this conclusion based on an evidence from a recent excavation where a pemchint was found along with the Dodecan hunters' tools. At first glance, though the author's argument seems convincing, upon further contemplation, it is plausible that there could be other reasons as well as to why the pemchint was found along with hunters' tools.
Firstly, the pemchint was found in an excavation far away from the nearest known Dodecan settlement. It is also worhtwhile to note that there were no other musical instrument in the excavation. These facts bolster other explanations more than they strengthen the conclusion that the pemchint was used by the Dodecan hunters'. Given the description of the pemchint in the given argument, one can infere taht it is not very hard for someone to make one even with a mediocore intellectual ability. And since, they can be made with hollow bones and long straps, it could very well be the case that a Dodecan hunter made the pemchint after he gorged on a carnal animal once he became complacent with the meal. It is very common even in the present times to celebrate the outcome of an intense and tiring work with music. Since hunting is a burdensome activity which consumes a lot of energy in such a shor period, the hunters might have felt obligated to celebrate their meal with music.
Secondly, the author clearly mentions that there has been only one such excavation where pemchint was found along with the hunters' tools. Apart from one such excavation, the pemchint was always found along with other musical artifacts. This evidence gives more the reason to believe that the pemchint was primarily used for rituals and celebration rather than being used by the hunters'. Had the pemchint had actually been used by the hunters, then it would certainly be the case that it would have been found more often than not along with hunters' tools and not with the other musical artifacts.
Finally, since the pemchant was primarily used to make sounds and it is imperative to mantain utmost silence during hunting so as not to get detected by the prey by the sound of the pemchint, it is patent that the Dodecan hunters never used the pemchint to aid them in hunting. If the hunters used the pemchint to keep the vicious wildlife away, the sound of the pemchint would equally be heard by the target which would then make the target aware of the hunters and aid it escaping. Hence, it is fatuous to consider that the pemchint was used by the Dodecan hunters while hunting.
In conclusion, the argument, as it stands, is unpersuasive at it relies on very poor reasoning unsupported by considereble evidence. One would be able to better evaluate the conclusion if the author has provided us with sound evidence.
Comments
e-rater score report
Attribute Value Ideal
Final score: 4.0 out of 6
Category: Good Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 0 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 0 2
No. of Sentences: 19 15
No. of Words: 502 350
No. of Characters: 2381 1500
No. of Different Words: 211 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.733 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.743 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.411 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 158 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 125 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 77 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 38 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 26.421 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 9.67 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.684 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.398 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.594 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.182 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 346, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[1]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'authors'' or 'author's'?
Suggestion: authors'; author's
...ters tools. At first glance, though the authors argument seems convincing, upon further...
^^^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
actually, also, finally, first, firstly, hence, if, second, secondly, so, then, well, while, apart from, as to, in conclusion, as well as
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 30.0 19.6327345309 153% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 10.0 12.9520958084 77% => OK
Conjunction : 7.0 11.1786427146 63% => OK
Relative clauses : 14.0 13.6137724551 103% => OK
Pronoun: 33.0 28.8173652695 115% => OK
Preposition: 64.0 55.5748502994 115% => OK
Nominalization: 18.0 16.3942115768 110% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2441.0 2260.96107784 108% => OK
No of words: 502.0 441.139720559 114% => OK
Chars per words: 4.8625498008 5.12650576532 95% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.7334296765 4.56307096286 104% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.50119652007 2.78398813304 90% => OK
Unique words: 213.0 204.123752495 104% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.424302788845 0.468620217663 91% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 761.4 705.55239521 108% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.59920159681 94% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 9.0 4.96107784431 181% => OK
Article: 9.0 8.76447105788 103% => OK
Subordination: 5.0 2.70958083832 185% => OK
Conjunction: 1.0 1.67365269461 60% => OK
Preposition: 6.0 4.22255489022 142% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 19.0 19.7664670659 96% => OK
Sentence length: 26.0 22.8473053892 114% => OK
Sentence length SD: 49.3865974843 57.8364921388 85% => OK
Chars per sentence: 128.473684211 119.503703932 108% => OK
Words per sentence: 26.4210526316 23.324526521 113% => OK
Discourse Markers: 7.21052631579 5.70786347227 126% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 1.0 5.25449101796 19% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 9.0 8.20758483034 110% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 4.0 6.88822355289 58% => More negative sentences wanted.
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 6.0 4.67664670659 128% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.275874654392 0.218282227539 126% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.102411223142 0.0743258471296 138% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0491457349642 0.0701772020484 70% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.15716498858 0.128457276422 122% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0745449596526 0.0628817314937 119% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 14.7 14.3799401198 102% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 53.55 48.3550499002 111% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.1628742515 123% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 12.3 12.197005988 101% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 11.2 12.5979740519 89% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 7.88 8.32208582834 95% => OK
difficult_words: 94.0 98.500998004 95% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 13.5 12.3882235529 109% => OK
gunning_fog: 12.4 11.1389221557 111% => OK
text_standard: 12.0 11.9071856287 101% => OK
What are above readability scores?
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Rates: 66.67 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 4.0 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.