"Commuters complain that increased rush-hour traffic on Blue Highway between the suburbs and the city center has doubled
their commuting time. The favored proposal of the motorists' lobby is to widen the highway, adding an additional lane of traffic.
Opponents note that last year's addition of a lane to the nearby Green Highway was followed by a worsening of traffic jams on it.
Their suggested alternative proposal is adding a bicycle lane to Blue Highway. Many area residents are keen bicyclists. A bicycle lane
would encourage them to use bicycles to commute, it is argued, thereby reducing rush-hour traffic."
The argument presented in the local newspaper says that rush hour traffic has increased in Blue Highway due to which the commuting time to the office has profligated to almost twice. One favored proposal states that there is a need to add another lane in the highway so that traffic might reduce. On the other hand opponents noted that same solution was opted for the Green Highway last year that has only worsened the situation. Opponents are suggesting that bicycle lane should be added as there are bicycle enthusiasts in the related area so that certain traffic will be shifted to another lane hence providing the solution to the problem. The factors such as the connectivity of the highway, distance from suburb to the city has not been mentioned in the argument due to which it is difficult to reach to the conclusion that whether opponents are right or wrong.
Firstly, I would like to point out to the issue that has been ignored by the opponents which is regarding the age group of the keen bicyclists. There is a probability that only teenagers or children might be interested in riding a bicycle and the parents who commute between the city and suburbs are not into bicycling. No records or data have been presented so that this situation would not be leading to such skeptical conditions. Therefore, by not providing the information the argument of the opponents can not be considered significant.
Secondly, the favored proposal that has been presented talks about adding another lane to the highway. We do not know when was the last time the highway was repaired or another lane had been added. Also, the argument does not tell the distance between the suburb and the city through Blue Highway. Is the distance pertinent enough so
that people will not have any physical issues by riding bicycle from one place to another? Henceforth, it becomes hard to consider whether adding bicycle lane is right or not.
Thirdly, opponents has used the instance of Green Highway by saying that by the addition of another lane the traffic has been worsened. This gives rise to the possibility that Green Highway can be more busier than that of Blue Highway. It might be possible that traffic from another suburbs and cities are added into the Green Highway that is why the Highway is more busier than ever. Hence, it proves that the same can not stand true for Blue Highway that has been proved true for Green.
Lastly, I would like to end my argument by saying that the author has tried to cover the ideas of the favored and opponent solutions regarding the increasing traffic in the Blue Highway but has not given enough sample data or information that can be used for the conclusion whether which one is more relevent.
Comments
e-rater score report
Attribute Value Ideal
Final score: 3.5 out of 6
Category: Satisfactory Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 0 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 0 2
No. of Sentences: 19 15
No. of Words: 473 350
No. of Characters: 2217 1500
No. of Different Words: 196 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.664 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.687 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.366 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 148 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 123 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 67 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 43 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 24.895 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 9.787 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.684 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.356 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.562 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.098 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5
In the editorial found in…
In the editorial found in the local newspaper, opponents recommend that the addition of a bicycle lane would reduce rush-hour traffic on Blue Highway. They cite the worsening of traffic jams on Green Highway following the addition of a lane and that many area residents are keen bicyclists as evidence to support this counsel. However, before this recommendation can be well evaluated, three questions need to be answered.
To begin with, are Green Highway and Blue Highway roughly comparable? That is, is there substantial evidence showing that the two highways are similar? It may be possible that Green Highway runs through an urban area while Blue Highway is situated along rural suburbs. Perhaps, Green Highway is a federal Highway which has mostly been abandoned leading to a poor maintenance of the Highway while Blue Highway is a highly funded state Highway that remains in pristine condition. The plausibility of these scenarios will render the recommendation weaker.
Secondly, are the area residents necessarily the main commuters on Blue Highway? The opponents assume they do make up a significant amount of commuters on the highways. However, this may not be so. It is possible that only a few people reside along Blue Highway, therefore leading to an imperceptible change to the traffic conditions during rush-hour. It is also possible that most area residents work from home and do not use the Blue Highway. If these scenarios are proven likely, they would substantially weaken the opponents counsel.
Thirdly, will the addition of a new bicycle lane lead to more accidents on Blue Highway and hereby increase traffic? It is possible that adding a bicycle lane will lead to more collisions between bicyclists and other motorists. The amount of time that will be required to get medical attention and clear up these potential accidents will lead to a perceptible increase in traffic. If these scenarios have any merit, they opponents recommendation will not hold any water.
In conclusion, the recommendation, as it stands, is considerably flawed due to its reliance on several unwarranted assumptions. The opponents will be required to provide more evidence (preferably in the form of a parametric research study) to further support their claims. This will be vital in fully evaluating the plausibility of the proposed recommendation to add a bicycle lane to Blue Highway.
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 8, column 198, Rule ID: MOST_COMPARATIVE[2]
Message: Use only 'busier' (without 'more') when you use the comparative.
Suggestion: busier
...e possibility that Green Highway can be more busier than that of Blue Highway. It might be ...
^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 8, column 363, Rule ID: MOST_COMPARATIVE[2]
Message: Use only 'busier' (without 'more') when you use the comparative.
Suggestion: busier
...reen Highway that is why the Highway is more busier than ever. Hence, it proves that the sa...
^^^^^^^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, but, first, firstly, hence, if, lastly, regarding, second, secondly, so, therefore, third, thirdly, thus, such as, on the other hand
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 32.0 19.6327345309 163% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 14.0 12.9520958084 108% => OK
Conjunction : 12.0 11.1786427146 107% => OK
Relative clauses : 28.0 13.6137724551 206% => Less relative clauses wanted (maybe 'which' is over used).
Pronoun: 32.0 28.8173652695 111% => OK
Preposition: 54.0 55.5748502994 97% => OK
Nominalization: 16.0 16.3942115768 98% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2263.0 2260.96107784 100% => OK
No of words: 473.0 441.139720559 107% => OK
Chars per words: 4.7843551797 5.12650576532 93% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.66353547975 4.56307096286 102% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.43457999615 2.78398813304 87% => OK
Unique words: 196.0 204.123752495 96% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.414376321353 0.468620217663 88% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 702.0 705.55239521 99% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.59920159681 94% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 8.0 4.96107784431 161% => OK
Article: 4.0 8.76447105788 46% => OK
Subordination: 0.0 2.70958083832 0% => More adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 0.0 1.67365269461 0% => OK
Preposition: 2.0 4.22255489022 47% => More preposition wanted as sentence beginning.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 19.0 19.7664670659 96% => OK
Sentence length: 24.0 22.8473053892 105% => OK
Sentence length SD: 55.1714025244 57.8364921388 95% => OK
Chars per sentence: 119.105263158 119.503703932 100% => OK
Words per sentence: 24.8947368421 23.324526521 107% => OK
Discourse Markers: 7.26315789474 5.70786347227 127% => OK
Paragraphs: 6.0 5.15768463074 116% => OK
Language errors: 2.0 5.25449101796 38% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 7.0 8.20758483034 85% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 8.0 6.88822355289 116% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 4.0 4.67664670659 86% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.341774186608 0.218282227539 157% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.116817343173 0.0743258471296 157% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0783000233844 0.0701772020484 112% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.173721342066 0.128457276422 135% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.098999557067 0.0628817314937 157% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 13.5 14.3799401198 94% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 55.58 48.3550499002 115% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 7.1628742515 43% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 11.5 12.197005988 94% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 10.74 12.5979740519 85% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 7.76 8.32208582834 93% => OK
difficult_words: 88.0 98.500998004 89% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 13.0 12.3882235529 105% => OK
gunning_fog: 11.6 11.1389221557 104% => 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.