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 no 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 argument presented in the health magazine stated some reasons for the current health levels of the citizens of Corpora. But the assumptions on which the argument is based on are not conclusive.
Firstly, the magazine assumed that the standard for fitness was constant over time. Though there may be some similarities between the standard of today and that of twenty years ago, it is possible that most of the fitness requirements will differ. So, a person who can be attested physically fit with the standard of twenty years ago might not be deemed fit with the standard of current time. The article doesn’t show what were the standards of fitness were then and now.
Secondly, the magazine suggested that there is no relation between increasing computer usage and fitness decrease. It is possible that the richer people of the country are owners of computers, and because of being rich, they can spend more money in a healthy diet, or physical exercise on their own. In this way, the decline in fitness for using computers can be covered up. The argument would beget more moment if the overall computer user and health data were published with the article.
Also, another assumption by the magazine is health is related solely to economy. Though it is true to some extent, economy is not the only contributor to the fitness of a person. It is true that having much money can enable a person to take a more healthy meal. But it doesn’t refrain him from eating unhealthy foods. Whether a person eats healthy or unhealthy food is his choice. Also, low expenditures on fitness related products and services can account little for the fitness problem as there can be mass awareness programs advocating the usefulness of being fit. It doesn’t cost much money. Also, the citizen can be encouraged to workout at home with light instruments or take up exercises that doesn’t need expensive instruments to perform, like walking, running etc. The magazine didn’t count that in its arguments.
Though the importanse the magazine puts on being fit is sound. But the assumptions it took are provisional and can be dismissed, thus putting the validity of the arguments of the article into question.
Comments
Essay evaluation report
Attribute Value Ideal
Final score: 4.5 out of 6
Category: Good Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 0 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 0 2
No. of Sentences: 20 15
No. of Words: 376 350
No. of Characters: 1774 1500
No. of Different Words: 186 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.403 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.718 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.513 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 131 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 103 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 61 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 31 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 18.8 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 8.328 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.7 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.297 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.297 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.07 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 1 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 4, column 843, Rule ID: SENTENCE_FRAGMENT[1]
Message: “Though” 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.
...idn't count that in its arguments. Though the importanse the magazine puts on bei...
^^^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, but, first, firstly, if, may, second, secondly, so, then, thus, it is true
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 28.0 19.6327345309 143% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 13.0 12.9520958084 100% => OK
Conjunction : 13.0 11.1786427146 116% => OK
Relative clauses : 10.0 13.6137724551 73% => More relative clauses wanted.
Pronoun: 21.0 28.8173652695 73% => OK
Preposition: 45.0 55.5748502994 81% => OK
Nominalization: 6.0 16.3942115768 37% => More nominalizations (nouns with a suffix like: tion ment ence ance) wanted.
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1849.0 2260.96107784 82% => OK
No of words: 371.0 441.139720559 84% => More content wanted.
Chars per words: 4.98382749326 5.12650576532 97% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.38877662729 4.56307096286 96% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.66013292994 2.78398813304 96% => OK
Unique words: 191.0 204.123752495 94% => More unique words wanted.
Unique words percentage: 0.514824797844 0.468620217663 110% => OK
syllable_count: 576.0 705.55239521 82% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.59920159681 100% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 5.0 4.96107784431 101% => OK
Article: 9.0 8.76447105788 103% => OK
Subordination: 3.0 2.70958083832 111% => OK
Conjunction: 5.0 1.67365269461 299% => Less conjunction wanted as sentence beginning.
Preposition: 2.0 4.22255489022 47% => More preposition wanted as sentence beginning.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 21.0 19.7664670659 106% => OK
Sentence length: 17.0 22.8473053892 74% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively short.
Sentence length SD: 45.3062644275 57.8364921388 78% => OK
Chars per sentence: 88.0476190476 119.503703932 74% => OK
Words per sentence: 17.6666666667 23.324526521 76% => OK
Discourse Markers: 3.80952380952 5.70786347227 67% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 1.0 5.25449101796 19% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 11.0 8.20758483034 134% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 8.0 6.88822355289 116% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 2.0 4.67664670659 43% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.180970064065 0.218282227539 83% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0602437169224 0.0743258471296 81% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0537415673376 0.0701772020484 77% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.103896138167 0.128457276422 81% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0566580143594 0.0628817314937 90% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 10.9 14.3799401198 76% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 54.22 48.3550499002 112% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 7.1628742515 43% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 9.9 12.197005988 81% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 11.31 12.5979740519 90% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.14 8.32208582834 98% => OK
difficult_words: 86.0 98.500998004 87% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 10.5 12.3882235529 85% => OK
gunning_fog: 8.8 11.1389221557 79% => OK
text_standard: 11.0 11.9071856287 92% => 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.