The following appeared in a health magazine published in Corpora Medical experts say that only one quarter of Corpora s citizens meet the current standards for adequate physical fitness even though twenty years ago one half of all of Corpora s citizens me | TOEFL IELTS GMAT GRE SAT ACT PTE ESL

Essay topics:

The following appeared in a health magazine published in Corpora.

“Medical experts say that only one-quarter of Corpora’s citizens meet the current standards for adequate physical fitness, even though twenty years ago, one-half of all of
Corpora’s citizens met the standards as then defined. But these experts are mistaken when they suggest that spending too much time using computers has caused a decline in fitness. Since overall fitness levels are highest in regions of Corpora where levels of computer ownership are also highest, it is clear that using computers has not made
citizens less physically fit. Instead, as shown by this year’s unusually low expenditures on fitness-related products and services, the recent decline in the economy is most likely the cause, and fitness levels will improve when the economy does.”

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 magazine article concerns itself with a common worry in this day and age: health. It makes an intriguing connection, that of fitness and economic status, but engages it too many clear logical fallacies and fails to present enough factual evidence to be a truly compelling argument.

The article itself is discussing the fitness level of Corpora’s citizens, saying that half as many citizens meet the health standards today as did twenty years ago; standing alone, it is persuasive evidence that helps the article’s argument. It is the article’s own words that undercuts its efficacy. By clarifying that there are “current standards” and “standards as then defined,” the writer questions his or her own connection without acknowledging the possible repercussions of that change, thereby assuming that the standards are similar enough for the difference to remain relevant. If that assumption is incorrect, that is, if the standards twenty years ago are drastically different than those today, it is possible that there has been no change in the citizens’ fitness at all. It could just be that fitness standards have become more exacting and the citizens are failing to measure up the way they did before, under the more accepting fitness standards. If this were true, the article’s entire purpose would be undermined. There would be no change in fitness levels at all, and therefore no cause for concern. This is a major flaw in the argument and should be at least acknowledged by the author, perhaps improved upon by defining the fitness standards, in order to improve the argument as a whole.

The author of this article also makes a tragic assumption by supposing a correlation between high rates of computer ownership and computer usage. The author argues that areas with high computer ownership are also highly fit, and therefore computer usage cannot result in lower fitness. That statement relies on the assumption that a home has multiple computers because the people in that home are using the computer. It is entirely possible that those homes are the wealthiest homes and own multiple computers, but no one in the home uses the computer. Similarly, someone in a poor neighborhood could not own a computer at all but still use a computer for a great portion of their day at a job and/or library. High ownership rates do not necessarily correlate to usage, and therefore the author cannot logically argue that the relationship between ownership and fitness automatically precludes a correlation between usage and fitness.

The above assumption has even deeper implications. As discussed, the homes with high ownership rates could very well, and even most likely, be the wealthiest homes in Corpora; therefore, the homes with the lowest rates could be the most poverty-stricken. Consequently, the high fitness levels in the high ownership areas may have nothing to do with their computer usage, for which we have no data, or their computer ownership, which we have no proof they own, but everything to do with their wealth and subsequent access to private trainers and gyms. If this were true, it could help strengthen the conclusion of the article’s original argument by taking it on a slightly different, albeit still economy-concerned, course. It would nonetheless render the entire article’s actual argument false and therefore pointless.

As evidenced, the article engages in three major assumptions, both stated and understated, which do a great deal of work in the author’s argument as a whole. That is, if the assumptions prove true. The reasoning relies on data that isn’t provided and correlations that may not necessarily exist. For that reason, the article fails to successfully defend its conclusion. If just one of these assumptions were to prove wrong, the entire point of the article would be thrown into question, and it is entirely possible that all three assumptions could be wrong. The author would have to get a great deal more data and add lengthy explanations of the standards upon which the article relies before the article could have any hope of standing successfully on its own.

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GMAT/GRE Argument Task

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Essay evaluations by e-grader

Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 3, column 692, Rule ID: RATHER_THEN[2]
Message: Did you mean 'different 'from''? 'Different than' is often considered colloquial style.
Suggestion: from
...nty years ago are drastically different than those today, it is possible that there ...
^^^^

Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, but, consequently, if, may, nonetheless, similarly, so, still, then, therefore, well, at least

Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments

Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 30.0 19.6327345309 153% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 17.0 12.9520958084 131% => OK
Conjunction : 29.0 11.1786427146 259% => Less conjunction wanted
Relative clauses : 26.0 13.6137724551 191% => OK
Pronoun: 56.0 28.8173652695 194% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 69.0 55.5748502994 124% => OK
Nominalization: 21.0 16.3942115768 128% => OK

Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 3482.0 2260.96107784 154% => OK
No of words: 673.0 441.139720559 153% => Less content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.17384843982 5.12650576532 101% => OK
Fourth root words length: 5.09335287823 4.56307096286 112% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.89895264591 2.78398813304 104% => OK
Unique words: 294.0 204.123752495 144% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.436849925706 0.468620217663 93% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 1079.1 705.55239521 153% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.59920159681 100% => OK

A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 13.0 4.96107784431 262% => Less pronouns wanted as sentence beginning.
Article: 14.0 8.76447105788 160% => OK
Subordination: 8.0 2.70958083832 295% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 9.0 1.67365269461 538% => Less conjunction wanted as sentence beginning.
Preposition: 3.0 4.22255489022 71% => OK

Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 27.0 19.7664670659 137% => OK
Sentence length: 24.0 22.8473053892 105% => OK
Sentence length SD: 68.9459341668 57.8364921388 119% => OK
Chars per sentence: 128.962962963 119.503703932 108% => OK
Words per sentence: 24.9259259259 23.324526521 107% => OK
Discourse Markers: 3.7037037037 5.70786347227 65% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 1.0 5.25449101796 19% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 15.0 8.20758483034 183% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 7.0 6.88822355289 102% => 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: 0.14071141352 0.218282227539 64% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0384209952021 0.0743258471296 52% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0574274345352 0.0701772020484 82% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.0746366717044 0.128457276422 58% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0724473308002 0.0628817314937 115% => OK

Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 15.4 14.3799401198 107% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 47.12 48.3550499002 97% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.1628742515 123% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 12.7 12.197005988 104% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 13.0 12.5979740519 103% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.21 8.32208582834 99% => OK
difficult_words: 144.0 98.500998004 146% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 10.5 12.3882235529 85% => OK
gunning_fog: 11.6 11.1389221557 104% => OK
text_standard: 13.0 11.9071856287 109% => OK
What are above readability scores?

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Write the essay in 30 minutes.

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.

Essay evaluations by e-grader

Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, but, consequently, if, may, nonetheless, similarly, so, still, then, therefore, well, at least

Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments