The following appeared in a memo from the president of Bower Builders, a company that constructs new homes.
"A nationwide survey reveals that the two most-desired home features are a large family room and a large, well-appointed kitchen. A number of homes in our area built by our competitor Domus Construction have such features and have sold much faster and at significantly higher prices than the national average. To boost sales and profits, we should increase the size of the family rooms and kitchens in all the homes we build and should make state-of-the-art kitchens a standard feature. Moreover, our larger family rooms and kitchens can come at the expense of the dining room, since many of our recent buyers say they do not need a separate dining room for family meals."
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 author of the memo concludes that sales and profits will boost, after they increase the size of the family rooms and kitchens. However that conclusion is based on a number of inadequately unsupported assumptions. Without additional information of other indicators of good housing and the validity of the survey, we do not have sufficient evidence to determine whether the author’s conclusion is valid.
To begin the argument, the author claims that in order to sell and profit the most from the housing, they should build with the same features like their competitor Domus Construction. However that evidence relies on the assumption that the only condition to succeed in sales is the large kitchen and living room. There are numerous other factors that have not been taken into account. For example the area where Domus Construction builds might have more positive indicators, like low taxes and low criminality. Maybe the houses they build are bigger and beautiful, so it might not be only about the kitchen and living room. On the other hand, if the author were to provide more information about a much more comprehensive list of how to meet the preferences of people than the claim of state-of-the-art kitchens becomes a standard feature.
Secondly, larger family rooms and kitchens can come at the expense of the dining room, since many of their recent buyers say they do not need a separate dining room for family meals. The opponents in this argument, assume that buyers do not need a separate dining room. However, this might not be the case. Perhaps, the builders did not give buyers many choices, and that is why the most of clients like their option. It would be more convenient if the information tells apart what the trends and reality are. Maybe, the houses with dining rooms are already sold before this and the owners do not like to sell them. Recent buyers, may be a small part of them and since we don’t have numerical data the assumption may not be valid.
In conclusion, the argument as it stands for the moment is considerably flawed because is relying on several unwarranted assumptions. If the author is able to argument the two claims of building with the same features like Domus Construction and avoiding dining rooms would increase profits on house sales and offer more evidence on the indicators of a good house or the real number of people surveyed than the claim for success would be more explainable.
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: 4 2
No. of Sentences: 18 15
No. of Words: 416 350
No. of Characters: 1983 1500
No. of Different Words: 195 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.516 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.767 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.496 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 132 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 89 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 61 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 35 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 23.111 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 10.913 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.611 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.3 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.3 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.081 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 1 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 132, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: However,
... size of the family rooms and kitchens. However that conclusion is based on a number of...
^^^^^^^
Line 2, column 101, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...ll and profit the most from the housing, they should build with the same features...
^^
Line 2, column 185, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: However,
...ke their competitor Domus Construction. However that evidence relies on the assumption ...
^^^^^^^
Line 2, column 300, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...ucceed in sales is the large kitchen and living room. There are numerous other fa...
^^
Line 2, column 813, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...n the claim of state-of-the-art kitchens becomes a standard feature. Secondly, ...
^^
Line 3, column 10, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
... becomes a standard feature. Secondly, larger family rooms and kitchens can com...
^^
Line 3, column 385, Rule ID: MOST_SOME_OF_NNS[1]
Message: After 'most of', you should use 'the' ('most of the clients') or simply say ''most clients''.
Suggestion: most of the clients; most clients
...uyers many choices, and that is why the most of clients like their option. It would be more con...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 4, column 41, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...In conclusion, the argument as it stands for the moment is considerably flawed be...
^^^
Line 4, column 138, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...g on several unwarranted assumptions. If the author is able to argument the two c...
^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
however, if, may, second, secondly, so, for example, in conclusion, on the other hand
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 19.0 19.6327345309 97% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 13.0 12.9520958084 100% => OK
Conjunction : 16.0 11.1786427146 143% => OK
Relative clauses : 9.0 13.6137724551 66% => More relative clauses wanted.
Pronoun: 25.0 28.8173652695 87% => OK
Preposition: 53.0 55.5748502994 95% => OK
Nominalization: 16.0 16.3942115768 98% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2033.0 2260.96107784 90% => OK
No of words: 414.0 441.139720559 94% => More content wanted.
Chars per words: 4.91062801932 5.12650576532 96% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.51076378781 4.56307096286 99% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.61806445229 2.78398813304 94% => OK
Unique words: 198.0 204.123752495 97% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.478260869565 0.468620217663 102% => OK
syllable_count: 630.0 705.55239521 89% => 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: 6.0 8.76447105788 68% => OK
Subordination: 4.0 2.70958083832 148% => OK
Conjunction: 1.0 1.67365269461 60% => OK
Preposition: 7.0 4.22255489022 166% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 18.0 19.7664670659 91% => OK
Sentence length: 23.0 22.8473053892 101% => OK
Sentence length SD: 63.4950177884 57.8364921388 110% => OK
Chars per sentence: 112.944444444 119.503703932 95% => OK
Words per sentence: 23.0 23.324526521 99% => OK
Discourse Markers: 4.72222222222 5.70786347227 83% => OK
Paragraphs: 4.0 5.15768463074 78% => More paragraphs wanted.
Language errors: 9.0 5.25449101796 171% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 9.0 8.20758483034 110% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 4.0 6.88822355289 58% => More negative sentences wanted.
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: 0.118124827652 0.218282227539 54% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0362624858017 0.0743258471296 49% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0338989807947 0.0701772020484 48% => Sentences are similar to each other.
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.072733675486 0.128457276422 57% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.00844647191649 0.0628817314937 13% => 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: 13.2 14.3799401198 92% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 56.59 48.3550499002 117% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.1628742515 123% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 11.1 12.197005988 91% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 11.49 12.5979740519 91% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 7.98 8.32208582834 96% => OK
difficult_words: 84.0 98.500998004 85% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 11.5 12.3882235529 93% => OK
gunning_fog: 11.2 11.1389221557 101% => 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.