The following appeared in a letter from the owner of the Sunnyside Towers apartment complex to its manager.
"One month ago, all the showerheads in the first three buildings of the Sunnyside Towers complex were modified to restrict maximum water flow to one-third of what it used to be. Although actual readings of water usage before and after the adjustment are not yet available, the change will obviously result in a considerable savings for Sunnyside Corporation, since the corporation must pay for water each month. Except for a few complaints about low water pressure, no problems with showers have been reported since the adjustment. I predict that modifying showerheads to restrict water flow throughout all twelve buildings in the Sunnyside Towers complex will increase our profits even more dramatically."
Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the prediction and the argument on which it is based are reasonable. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the prediction.
The argument that modification of all twelve buildings in the sunnyside towers complex will lead to increase in profits and result to considerable savings in water payment each month requires numerous question to be answered to determine its validity. If the answers to these questions strengthen the argument, then the argument is valid. On the other hand, if the questions weaken the argument, then the argument is totally flawed and is considered invalid.
The first leap in the argument is the assumption that the modification of shower heads to restrict maximum water flow to one-third of what it used to be will result in considerable savings for Sunnyside complex. This assumption is seriously flawed as it neglects other disadvantages that are accrued with this modification. In order to strengthen this argument, the manager needs to ask whether there are no negative effect of this modification which might cause a total discomfort to the residence of the apartment. As it is seen, some residents are already complaining of low water pressure which will cause a delay in their water usage. This modification might, however, lead to the management of the complex spending more on adjusting the pipes to deliver water efficiently to the households and at the same time, save cost.
Another leap in the argument is the assumption that since there are no other problems recorded in the three buildings that are modified, the other eight buildings will also not have problems. This is flawed as no evidence is provided to support this. The manager needs to question the distance of the other buildings from the water source. The currently modified three buildings are facing low water pressure, the remaining eight buildings might not even have any water supply after this modification. Thus, if the answer to the question turn out positively that there won’t be any disturbance in the flow of water into this other eight buildings, then the argument is strengthened. On the other hand, if the modification will lead to a serious stymie in water supply to other buildings, then the argument is invalid.
Lastly, the argument failed to consider other ways of increasing profit and cutting water cost. The high cost of water might be as a result of some pipe outburst in a remote location in the complex, which has in turn, led to waste of water. The manager needs to raise some questions regarding water-carriage around the complex. He needs to question if all conduits are in good position, whether there is no water leakage both in obscured and visible locations of pipes. If it turns out that there is no leakage in the conduits carrying water around the complex, then the argument is strengthened. If, on the other side, there is leakages at some specific points on the pipes, then, the argument is flawed as the manager will need to fix this leakages which will lead to a decrease in water cost.
In conclusion, the argument that modification of all water conduits in the twelve buildings of sunnyside tower complex will lead to reduction in water cost and increase in profit requires some answers to few questions in other to determine it validity. If this answers strengthen the argument, then the argument is valid. if, on the other hand, the answer weakens the argument, then, the argument is totally flawed and the manager might be making a major mistake by modifying the water supply of the remaining eight buildings in the complex.
Comments
e-rater score report
Attribute Value Ideal
Final score: 3.5 out of 6
Category: Satisfactory Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 0 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 0 2
No. of Sentences: 22 15
No. of Words: 580 350
No. of Characters: 2815 1500
No. of Different Words: 198 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.907 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.853 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.652 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 190 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 159 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 119 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 62 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 26.364 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 10.218 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.682 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.392 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.559 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.154 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 100, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...he sunnyside towers complex will lead to increase in profits and result to consid...
^^
Line 5, column 102, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...re are no other problems recorded in the three buildings that are modified, the o...
^^
Line 7, column 621, Rule ID: THERE_S_MANY[3]
Message: Did you mean 'there are leakages'?
Suggestion: there are leakages
...is strengthened. If, on the other side, there is leakages at some specific points on the pipes, t...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 7, column 738, Rule ID: THIS_NNS[1]
Message: Did you mean 'these'?
Suggestion: these
... flawed as the manager will need to fix this leakages which will lead to a decrease ...
^^^^
Line 9, column 202, Rule ID: TO_TOO[2]
Message: Did you mean 'too'?
Suggestion: too
...ncrease in profit requires some answers to few questions in other to determine it ...
^^
Line 9, column 323, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: If
...e argument, then the argument is valid. if, on the other hand, the answer weakens ...
^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, first, however, if, lastly, regarding, so, then, third, thus, in conclusion, as a result, on the other hand
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 30.0 19.6327345309 153% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 14.0 12.9520958084 108% => OK
Conjunction : 7.0 11.1786427146 63% => OK
Relative clauses : 12.0 13.6137724551 88% => OK
Pronoun: 28.0 28.8173652695 97% => OK
Preposition: 88.0 55.5748502994 158% => OK
Nominalization: 43.0 16.3942115768 262% => Less nominalizations (nouns with a suffix like: tion ment ence ance) wanted.
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2883.0 2260.96107784 128% => OK
No of words: 579.0 441.139720559 131% => OK
Chars per words: 4.9792746114 5.12650576532 97% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.90534594407 4.56307096286 108% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.72284708929 2.78398813304 98% => OK
Unique words: 209.0 204.123752495 102% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.360967184801 0.468620217663 77% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 897.3 705.55239521 127% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.59920159681 94% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 4.0 4.96107784431 81% => OK
Article: 14.0 8.76447105788 160% => OK
Subordination: 7.0 2.70958083832 258% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 0.0 1.67365269461 0% => OK
Preposition: 6.0 4.22255489022 142% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 23.0 19.7664670659 116% => OK
Sentence length: 25.0 22.8473053892 109% => OK
Sentence length SD: 56.0076959335 57.8364921388 97% => OK
Chars per sentence: 125.347826087 119.503703932 105% => OK
Words per sentence: 25.1739130435 23.324526521 108% => OK
Discourse Markers: 4.91304347826 5.70786347227 86% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 6.0 5.25449101796 114% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 7.0 8.20758483034 85% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 14.0 6.88822355289 203% => Less negative sentences wanted.
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: 0.198091891312 0.218282227539 91% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0715782024688 0.0743258471296 96% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0693173697406 0.0701772020484 99% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.130211136018 0.128457276422 101% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0228994346631 0.0628817314937 36% => 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: 14.6 14.3799401198 102% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 54.56 48.3550499002 113% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 7.1628742515 43% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 11.9 12.197005988 98% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 11.9 12.5979740519 94% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 7.66 8.32208582834 92% => OK
difficult_words: 102.0 98.500998004 104% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 14.0 12.3882235529 113% => OK
gunning_fog: 12.0 11.1389221557 108% => OK
text_standard: 12.0 11.9071856287 101% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
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.