The council of Maple County, concerned about the county's becoming overdeveloped, is debating a proposed measure that would prevent the development of existing farmland in the county. But the council is also concerned that such a restriction, by limiting the supply of new housing, could lead to significant increases in the price of housing in the county. Proponents of the measure note that Chestnut County established a similar measure ten years ago, and its housing prices have increased only modestly since. However, opponents of the measure note that Pine County adopted restrictions on the development of new residential housing fifteen years ago, and its housing prices have since more than doubled. The council currently predicts that the proposed measure, if passed, will result in a significant increase in housing prices in Maple County.
Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the prediction and the argument on which it is based are reasonable. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the prediction.
While the prediction made by the council about the proposed measures; limiting the supply of housing in the Maple County might hold some merit, the line of reasoning of such forecast requires close examination and certain important questions need to be answered in order for these proposed measures to be implemented.
The author states that the council of Maple County is concerned about the county’s overdevelopment and hence a debate has ensued which proposes a measure which would prevent the development of exiting farmlands of the county. The questions here that need to be answered are, what qualifies as overdevelopment for the council? For example is there a significant amount of infrastructural development in the county that is shrinking the size of available farmlands. If the answer to this question is yes then the argument put forth in the council might hold a plausible connotation. The author further says that the council is concerned about prices rising if the housing is limited in the county. The question that needs to be addressed here is raise in the price of housing is directly proportional to limiting the supply of new housing. Other aspects of the economy will not contribute to such calculations. Moreover, the source of this data is no where mentioned by the author.
Moving forward, it is stated that proponents of these measure put forth Chestnut County as an example. They say that Chestnut County had established a similar measure ten years ago, and that its housing prices have increased only modestly since. The most significant question that needs to be answered, if not would weaken the argument, is that, the conditions under which Chestnut County implemented such measure? Is it same as that of Maple County. Further has nothing changed over the intervening years?. Here lies an underlying assumption that Maple County will also see the same results if this measure is implemented. Further the term “modestly increased”seem vague and actual numbers should be provided so as to easily understand them. For instance that earlier the prices ranged between $100,000 to $500,000 , now see an increment of $200,000 each year.
Lastly, the opponents of the propsed measure bring to the table the example of Pine County. They state that Pine County adopted restrictions on the development of new residential housing fifteen years ago, and its housing prices have since more than doubled. The term “more than double” shows vagary and does not provide us with actual number to do the calculations. Again the main question is were all the three counties facing the same issues when they decided to implement such measures?, Has nothing changed in the years between each county pondering to implement the proposed measure? Where did the proponents and the opponents of this scheme gathered the data from?, was it available at each counties councils? Such as the data for each county was available at the county’s library. The raise in housing prices is same for all counties irrespective of other economic aspects as they all belong to the same state. Once these questions are answered , the argument stands a chance and the council of Maple county can consider implementing this measure.
Due to the lack of plausible evidence such as, were all counties dealing with same overdevelopment crisis? Was there no change in the housing industry over the last fifteen years and whether the source of all the data provided was legitimate. Thus this argument is not completely persuasive as some more research needs to be done before the Maple County can consider implementing such a measure.
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: 5 2
No. of Sentences: 28 15
No. of Words: 593 350
No. of Characters: 2963 1500
No. of Different Words: 248 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.935 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.997 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.672 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 224 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 169 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 108 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 61 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 21.179 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 8.698 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.5 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.285 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.285 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.063 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 1 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 2, column 464, 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.
...inking the size of available farmlands. If the answer to this question is yes then...
^^
Line 2, column 946, Rule ID: NOW[2]
Message: Did you mean 'now' (=at this moment) instead of 'no' (negation)?
Suggestion: now
...s. Moreover, the source of this data is no where mentioned by the author. Moving ...
^^
Line 3, column 451, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: Further,
...re? Is it same as that of Maple County. Further has nothing changed over the intervenin...
^^^^^^^
Line 3, column 660, Rule ID: NO_SPACE_CLOSING_QUOTE[1]
Message: There should be a space after a closing quote.
Suggestion: ” seem
...ed. Further the term “modestly increased”seem vague and actual numbers should be prov...
^^^^^
Line 3, column 710, Rule ID: SO_AS_TO[1]
Message: Use simply 'to'
Suggestion: to
...e and actual numbers should be provided so as to easily understand them. For instance th...
^^^^^^^^
Line 3, column 811, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Put a space after the comma, but not before the comma
Suggestion: ,
...e prices ranged between 00,000 to 00,000 , now see an increment of 00,000 each yea...
^^
Line 4, column 394, Rule ID: IS_WERE[1]
Message: Did you mean 'where'?
Suggestion: where
...alculations. Again the main question is were all the three counties facing the same ...
^^^^
Line 4, column 394, Rule ID: BEEN_PART_AGREEMENT[1]
Message: Consider using a past participle here: 'been'.
Suggestion: been
...alculations. Again the main question is were all the three counties facing the same ...
^^^^
Line 4, column 952, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Put a space after the comma, but not before the comma
Suggestion: ,
...state. Once these questions are answered , the argument stands a chance and the co...
^^
Line 5, column 243, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: Thus,
...f all the data provided was legitimate. Thus this argument is not completely persuas...
^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, but, hence, if, lastly, moreover, so, then, thus, while, as to, for example, for instance, such as
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 31.0 19.6327345309 158% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 11.0 12.9520958084 85% => OK
Conjunction : 9.0 11.1786427146 81% => OK
Relative clauses : 20.0 13.6137724551 147% => OK
Pronoun: 34.0 28.8173652695 118% => OK
Preposition: 68.0 55.5748502994 122% => OK
Nominalization: 23.0 16.3942115768 140% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 3041.0 2260.96107784 135% => OK
No of words: 593.0 441.139720559 134% => OK
Chars per words: 5.1281618887 5.12650576532 100% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.93473315629 4.56307096286 108% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.77689377612 2.78398813304 100% => OK
Unique words: 255.0 204.123752495 125% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.430016863406 0.468620217663 92% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 931.5 705.55239521 132% => 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: 12.0 8.76447105788 137% => OK
Subordination: 3.0 2.70958083832 111% => OK
Conjunction: 2.0 1.67365269461 119% => OK
Preposition: 0.0 4.22255489022 0% => More preposition wanted as sentence beginning.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 28.0 19.7664670659 142% => OK
Sentence length: 21.0 22.8473053892 92% => OK
Sentence length SD: 55.6091957599 57.8364921388 96% => OK
Chars per sentence: 108.607142857 119.503703932 91% => OK
Words per sentence: 21.1785714286 23.324526521 91% => OK
Discourse Markers: 3.71428571429 5.70786347227 65% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 10.0 5.25449101796 190% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 8.0 8.20758483034 97% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 7.0 6.88822355289 102% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 13.0 4.67664670659 278% => Less facts, knowledge or examples wanted.
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.396727413432 0.218282227539 182% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.106206936656 0.0743258471296 143% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.107781298611 0.0701772020484 154% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.230995413689 0.128457276422 180% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0858337618848 0.0628817314937 137% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 13.3 14.3799401198 92% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 50.16 48.3550499002 104% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.1628742515 123% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 11.5 12.197005988 94% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.47 12.5979740519 99% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 7.98 8.32208582834 96% => OK
difficult_words: 124.0 98.500998004 126% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 18.5 12.3882235529 149% => OK
gunning_fog: 10.4 11.1389221557 93% => 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.