The following appeared in a letter to the editor of a journal on environmental issues.
"Over the past year, the Crust Copper Company (CCC) has purchased over 10,000 square miles of land in the tropical nation of West Fredonia. Mining copper on this land will inevitably result in pollution and, since West Fredonia is the home of several endangered animal species, in environmental disaster. But such disasters can be prevented if consumers simply refuse to purchase products that are made with CCC's copper unless the company abandons its mining plans."
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.
It might seem logical, at a first glance, that the argument makes a cogent case regarding the prevention of environmental diaster: disaster can be prevented if consumers simply refuse to purchase products that are made with CCC's copper unless the company abondons its mining plans. However, the argument is rife with holes and unwarranted assumptions. If these assumptions prove to be invalid, then the argument falls apart.
Firstly, author assumes that the land purchased by CCC in the tropical nation of West Fredonia will used for mining copper. If the CCC purchased that land for different purpose other than mining, then it weakens the argument. If the CCC uses only small part of the land for mining copper and rest of the land for different purposes, then it weakens the argument. The author has to show proper evidence that most of the land will be definitely used for mining in order to strengthen the argument.
Secondly, the author of the argument assumes that the CCC will make its copper products by using copper obtained by mining the land in the tropical nation of West Fredonia. If the CCC make its products by making use of copper mined from places other than the tropical nation of West Fredonia, then it weakens the argument. The author must provide evidence that CCC will make all or most of the copper products using the copper copper obtained by mining the land in the tropical nation of West Fredonia.
Thirdly, the author of the argument assumes that the CCC will not take any measures to control pollution and it will not take care of endangered animal species in West Fredonia if it plans to use the land in the West Fredonia for mining copper. If the CCC shifts the endangered animal species to a safe and secured place and take effective measures to control the pollution, then it can prevent environmental disaster and pollution. If the above the statement is true, then it weakens the argument. The author must provide evidence that CCC will use the land in West Fredonia for mining and it will not take into account the pollution and environmental disaster which can be caused by mining copper on that land.
The author of the argument makes above unwarranted assumptions. If these assumptions render to be invalid, then the argument falls apart. The author must provide some concrete evidence to support those assumptions in order to provide support to the argument.
Comments
e-rater score report
Attribute Value Ideal
Final score: 3.5 out of 6
Category: Satisfactory Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 4 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 4 2
No. of Sentences: 17 15
No. of Words: 409 350
No. of Characters: 1957 1500
No. of Different Words: 134 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.497 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.785 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.424 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 147 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 101 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 72 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 28 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 24.059 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 11.28 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.706 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.451 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.67 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.212 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 3, column 101, Rule ID: DID_BASEFORM[1]
Message: The verb 'will' requires the base form of the verb: 'use'
Suggestion: use
...e tropical nation of West Fredonia will used for mining copper. If the CCC purchased...
^^^^
Line 5, column 421, Rule ID: ENGLISH_WORD_REPEAT_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a word
Suggestion: copper
...r most of the copper products using the copper copper obtained by mining the land in the trop...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
first, firstly, however, if, regarding, second, secondly, so, then, third, thirdly, as to
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 8.0 19.6327345309 41% => More to be verbs wanted.
Auxiliary verbs: 15.0 12.9520958084 116% => OK
Conjunction : 9.0 11.1786427146 81% => OK
Relative clauses : 11.0 13.6137724551 81% => OK
Pronoun: 25.0 28.8173652695 87% => OK
Preposition: 49.0 55.5748502994 88% => OK
Nominalization: 23.0 16.3942115768 140% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2003.0 2260.96107784 89% => OK
No of words: 409.0 441.139720559 93% => More content wanted.
Chars per words: 4.89731051345 5.12650576532 96% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.49708221141 4.56307096286 99% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.51342364872 2.78398813304 90% => OK
Unique words: 141.0 204.123752495 69% => More unique words wanted.
Unique words percentage: 0.344743276284 0.468620217663 74% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 621.0 705.55239521 88% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.59920159681 94% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 2.0 4.96107784431 40% => OK
Article: 8.0 8.76447105788 91% => OK
Subordination: 7.0 2.70958083832 258% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 0.0 1.67365269461 0% => OK
Preposition: 1.0 4.22255489022 24% => More preposition wanted as sentence beginning.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 17.0 19.7664670659 86% => OK
Sentence length: 24.0 22.8473053892 105% => OK
Sentence length SD: 63.6437424383 57.8364921388 110% => OK
Chars per sentence: 117.823529412 119.503703932 99% => OK
Words per sentence: 24.0588235294 23.324526521 103% => OK
Discourse Markers: 5.23529411765 5.70786347227 92% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 2.0 5.25449101796 38% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 3.0 8.20758483034 37% => More positive sentences wanted.
Sentences with negative sentiment : 12.0 6.88822355289 174% => 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: 0.293018260711 0.218282227539 134% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.128015044787 0.0743258471296 172% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.126368683363 0.0701772020484 180% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.175867748574 0.128457276422 137% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.120725807034 0.0628817314937 192% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 13.7 14.3799401198 95% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 55.58 48.3550499002 115% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 7.1628742515 43% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 11.5 12.197005988 94% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 11.44 12.5979740519 91% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 7.26 8.32208582834 87% => OK
difficult_words: 63.0 98.500998004 64% => More difficult words wanted.
linsear_write_formula: 10.5 12.3882235529 85% => OK
gunning_fog: 11.6 11.1389221557 104% => OK
text_standard: 12.0 11.9071856287 101% => OK
What are above readability scores?
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Rates: 50.0 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 3.0 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.