The following appeared as an editorial in a local newspaper."In order to attract visitors to Central Plaza downtown and to return the plaza to its former glory(5), the city should prohibit skateboarding there and instead allow skateboarders to use an area in Monroe Park(2). At Central Plaza, skateboard users are about the only people one sees now, and litter and defaced property have made the plaza unattractive(1). In a recent survey of downtown merchants(3), the majority supported a prohibition on skateboarding in the plaza. Clearly, banning skateboarding in Central Plaza will make the area a place where people can congregate for fun or for relaxation(4,6)."
The editorial recommends that prohibiting skateboarding in Central Plaza will make the downtown a good place where people can congregrate for fun or for relaxation.The editorial reasons that activities of skateboarders would result in litter and defaced property in Central Plaza. To support the claim the editorial also cites a recent survey which points out the prohibition was supported by most downtown merchants. The argument is not entirely convincing for the following reasons.
First and foremost, assuming that the current situation of the plaza was in fact due to the presence of skateboarders there, the editorial overlooks the possibility that unattractive surroundings of the plaza had nothing to do with that skateboarders. Perhaps the plaza recently became less popular than before due to the lack of optional facilities in Central Plaza. Either scenario, if true, would serve to undermine the editorial’s claim that the current situation of the plaza is attributed to the presence of skateboarders .
Secondly, the survey was based on the data from downtown merchants. But the editorial provides no evidence that the survey’s respondents are representative of all citizens in Central Plaza. Lacking such evidence, it is entirely possible that the merchants inclined to make use of more spaces to do business and make profits were more willing to respond to the survey positively than other people were.
Thirdly, the editorial recommends to allow skateboarders to use an area in Monroe Park as a remedy for them due to the prohibition.Even though it seems that this method reasonably gives skateboarders certain spaces for playing, there may be some negative impacts of allowing skateboarders to use part of Monroe Park. For example, all the skateboarders would only play in the part of the park,which would still produce litter and destruction for property there.Thus this method might not solve the problem throughoutly.
Finally, the editorial also indicates that skateboarding has an negative impact on the amusement of the plaza.But it may actually be helpful for achieving the city's objective of providing a fun and relaxing place for people to congregate.For instance, skateboarding is a sports which is very popular with young people,so the promotion and support of this sports would create a relaxing and delightful atmosphere of the plaza
In conclusion, the recommendation for banning skateboarding is not well supported. To convince that the prohibition would attract visitors to the plaza for fun and for relaxation, the editorial must demonstrate a correlation between presence of skateboarders and unattractive environment of the plaza, downtown merchants could represent the overall group of all citizens. In addition, there is a need to improve the alternative for skateboarders.
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: 5 2
No. of Sentences: 15 15
No. of Words: 442 350
No. of Characters: 2337 1500
No. of Different Words: 204 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.585 4.7
Average Word Length: 5.287 4.6
Word Length SD: 3.062 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 171 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 143 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 110 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 73 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 29.467 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 16.919 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.667 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.359 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.657 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.093 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 6 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 165, Rule ID: SENTENCE_WHITESPACE
Message: Add a space between sentences
Suggestion: The
...n congregrate for fun or for relaxation.The editorial reasons that activities of sk...
^^^
Line 3, column 528, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Don't put a space before the full stop
Suggestion: .
...ributed to the presence of skateboarders . Secondly, the survey was based on t...
^^
Line 7, column 24, Rule ID: ADMIT_ENJOY_VB[1]
Message: This verb is used with the gerund form: 'recommends allowing'.
Suggestion: recommends allowing
... people were. Thirdly, the editorial recommends to allow skateboarders to use an area in Monroe ...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 7, column 132, Rule ID: SENTENCE_WHITESPACE
Message: Add a space between sentences
Suggestion: Even
... remedy for them due to the prohibition.Even though it seems that this method reason...
^^^^
Line 7, column 392, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Put a space after the comma
Suggestion: , which
... would only play in the part of the park,which would still produce litter and destruc...
^^^^^^
Line 7, column 410, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...n the part of the park,which would still produce litter and destruction for prope...
^^
Line 7, column 462, Rule ID: SENTENCE_WHITESPACE
Message: Add a space between sentences
Suggestion: Thus
...tter and destruction for property there.Thus this method might not solve the problem...
^^^^
Line 7, column 462, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: Thus,
...tter and destruction for property there.Thus this method might not solve the problem...
^^^^
Line 9, column 62, Rule ID: EN_A_VS_AN
Message: Use 'a' instead of 'an' if the following word doesn't start with a vowel sound, e.g. 'a sentence', 'a university'
Suggestion: a
...l also indicates that skateboarding has an negative impact on the amusement of the...
^^
Line 9, column 111, Rule ID: SENTENCE_WHITESPACE
Message: Add a space between sentences
Suggestion: But
...ve impact on the amusement of the plaza.But it may actually be helpful for achievin...
^^^
Line 9, column 239, Rule ID: SENTENCE_WHITESPACE
Message: Add a space between sentences
Suggestion: For
...relaxing place for people to congregate.For instance, skateboarding is a sports whi...
^^^
Line 9, column 270, Rule ID: A_PLURAL[1]
Message: Don't use indefinite articles with plural words. Did you mean 'a sport' or simply 'sports'?
Suggestion: a sport; sports
...ngregate.For instance, skateboarding is a sports which is very popular with young people...
^^^^^^^^
Line 9, column 318, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Put a space after the comma
Suggestion: , so
... which is very popular with young people,so the promotion and support of this sport...
^^^
Line 9, column 351, Rule ID: THIS_NNS[1]
Message: Did you mean 'these'?
Suggestion: these
... people,so the promotion and support of this sports would create a relaxing and deli...
^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
actually, also, but, finally, first, if, look, may, second, secondly, so, still, third, thirdly, thus, well, for example, for instance, in addition, in conclusion, in fact
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 15.0 19.6327345309 76% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 14.0 12.9520958084 108% => OK
Conjunction : 12.0 11.1786427146 107% => OK
Relative clauses : 15.0 13.6137724551 110% => OK
Pronoun: 18.0 28.8173652695 62% => OK
Preposition: 56.0 55.5748502994 101% => OK
Nominalization: 21.0 16.3942115768 128% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2396.0 2260.96107784 106% => OK
No of words: 435.0 441.139720559 99% => OK
Chars per words: 5.50804597701 5.12650576532 107% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.56690854021 4.56307096286 100% => OK
Word Length SD: 3.24103913151 2.78398813304 116% => OK
Unique words: 213.0 204.123752495 104% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.489655172414 0.468620217663 104% => OK
syllable_count: 746.1 705.55239521 106% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.7 1.59920159681 106% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 1.0 4.96107784431 20% => OK
Article: 9.0 8.76447105788 103% => OK
Subordination: 2.0 2.70958083832 74% => OK
Conjunction: 2.0 1.67365269461 119% => OK
Preposition: 4.0 4.22255489022 95% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 14.0 19.7664670659 71% => Need more sentences. Double check the format of sentences, make sure there is a space between two sentences, or have enough periods. And also check the lengths of sentences, maybe they are too long.
Sentence length: 31.0 22.8473053892 136% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively long.
Sentence length SD: 118.492228282 57.8364921388 205% => The lengths of sentences changed so frequently.
Chars per sentence: 171.142857143 119.503703932 143% => OK
Words per sentence: 31.0714285714 23.324526521 133% => OK
Discourse Markers: 12.2142857143 5.70786347227 214% => Less transition words/phrases wanted.
Paragraphs: 6.0 5.15768463074 116% => OK
Language errors: 14.0 5.25449101796 266% => Less language errors wanted.
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: 1.0 4.67664670659 21% => More facts, knowledge or examples wanted.
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.308662826262 0.218282227539 141% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.10893811891 0.0743258471296 147% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0757391321133 0.0701772020484 108% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.166547596373 0.128457276422 130% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.046416471542 0.0628817314937 74% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 20.1 14.3799401198 140% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 31.55 48.3550499002 65% => OK
smog_index: 13.0 7.1628742515 181% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 16.6 12.197005988 136% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 15.27 12.5979740519 121% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 9.38 8.32208582834 113% => OK
difficult_words: 116.0 98.500998004 118% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 16.0 12.3882235529 129% => OK
gunning_fog: 14.4 11.1389221557 129% => OK
text_standard: 16.0 11.9071856287 134% => 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.