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 passage suggests that the decline in fitness level of Corpora’s citizens is a result of a recent decline in the economy. The passage claims that high level of ownership of computer devices has not affected fitness levels significantly, meaning the precedent study and findings made 20 years ago by scientists is flawed, however, the claims are weakly supported by evidence.
The passage claims that findings from 20 years ago are flawed, however, there is no evidence or details provided on how such a conclusion is made and based on what information. For example, they could have provided information on the levels of computer ownership so that a valid comparison could be made with Corpora’s citizen’s current fitness level. To complement it, they could have provided more data on the amount of time spent using computer devices. It is possible that many people own computers but do not use them frequently.
The passage states that the level of fitness is highest in regions where computer ownership is also highest and then concludes that owning computer devices does affect fitness level negatively. To weaken this argument, one can say that people who own computers are more likely to be more educated or in touch with up to date information on health and fitness, therefore, they have a higher level of awareness and are more considerate toward their health and well being. On the other hand, people without access to computing devices may not be able to access information related to health and well being.
The passage states that the decline in fitness levels is because of a recent decline in the economy. One may wonder what support is provided as an indicator of a decline in the economy such as income per capita, which could have been provided to prove that there existed a negative growth in the economy of Corpora. Generally speaking, not only has the economy of the world grown from 20 years ago but also due to the explosion of information people became more aware of fitness and its importance in their lives. Therefore, the fitness level of population has improved. In addition, a decline in the economy may not necessarily result in a decline in physical fitness. It should be noted that the costs of staying fit could also have decreased as well.
In conclusion, the argument provided is not strongly supported and questions stated should be answered in order to corroborate the argument. The article could have contained more information on economic metrics of the world during the past 20 years to sound more legit.
Comments
Essay evaluation report
Attribute Value Ideal
Final score: 3.0 out of 6
Category: Satisfactory Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 0 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 0 2
No. of Sentences: 17 15
No. of Words: 429 350
No. of Characters: 2079 1500
No. of Different Words: 187 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.551 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.846 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.525 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 162 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 122 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 72 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 41 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 25.235 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 10.356 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.765 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.355 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.58 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.115 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 1, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
The passage suggests that the decline i...
^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, but, however, if, may, so, then, therefore, well, for example, in addition, in conclusion, such as, on the other hand
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 22.0 19.6327345309 112% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 12.0 12.9520958084 93% => OK
Conjunction : 13.0 11.1786427146 116% => OK
Relative clauses : 14.0 13.6137724551 103% => OK
Pronoun: 22.0 28.8173652695 76% => OK
Preposition: 61.0 55.5748502994 110% => OK
Nominalization: 15.0 16.3942115768 91% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2146.0 2260.96107784 95% => OK
No of words: 429.0 441.139720559 97% => OK
Chars per words: 5.00233100233 5.12650576532 98% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.55107846309 4.56307096286 100% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.69474354737 2.78398813304 97% => OK
Unique words: 192.0 204.123752495 94% => More unique words wanted.
Unique words percentage: 0.447552447552 0.468620217663 96% => OK
syllable_count: 694.8 705.55239521 98% => 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: 10.0 8.76447105788 114% => OK
Subordination: 0.0 2.70958083832 0% => More adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 0.0 1.67365269461 0% => OK
Preposition: 5.0 4.22255489022 118% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 17.0 19.7664670659 86% => OK
Sentence length: 25.0 22.8473053892 109% => OK
Sentence length SD: 61.0187446383 57.8364921388 106% => OK
Chars per sentence: 126.235294118 119.503703932 106% => OK
Words per sentence: 25.2352941176 23.324526521 108% => OK
Discourse Markers: 7.23529411765 5.70786347227 127% => 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 : 3.0 6.88822355289 44% => More negative sentences wanted.
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 3.0 4.67664670659 64% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.1007633309 0.218282227539 46% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0332517528934 0.0743258471296 45% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0355495228836 0.0701772020484 51% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.0585916555086 0.128457276422 46% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0236711782398 0.0628817314937 38% => Paragraphs are similar to each other. Some content may get duplicated or it is not exactly right on the topic.
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 14.7 14.3799401198 102% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 46.1 48.3550499002 95% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.1628742515 123% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 13.0 12.197005988 107% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.02 12.5979740519 95% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.37 8.32208582834 101% => OK
difficult_words: 95.0 98.500998004 96% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 14.0 12.3882235529 113% => OK
gunning_fog: 12.0 11.1389221557 108% => OK
text_standard: 13.0 11.9071856287 109% => 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.