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.
This memo from the president of a home construction company concludes that making two major design changes to all the homes they build will boost their sales and profits. The author states that a nationwide survey revealed two of the most desired features in a home: a large family room and a large well-appointed kitchen. Furthermore, the homes built by their competitor with such features have sold much faster and at a significantly higher price than the national average. The author also claims that the space for the larger family rooms and kitchen can come at the expense of the dining based on feedback from recent buyers. While this argument may appear well-reasoned at first glance, but an in-depth analysis reveals it is hampered by several unsubstantiated assumptions that must be addressed to fully determine the veracity of the author's claims.
First, a major flaw in the given argument is the unjustified assumption that the national survey cited is a valid and reliable measure. For example, the author fallaciously believes that what people say in surveys can be taken at face value, if the survey provided a $20 incentive for completing the survey the respondents could have only been interested in completing the survey to get the reward. This assumption motivates the authors to plan to modify their homes based on consumer responses. Moreover, the sample may not have been representative of the area in which the homes are built, the citizens of this area might list two totally different home features like a bigger backyard or better bathrooms. Unless the survey is fully representative, valid, and reliable it cannot be used to effectively back the author's argument.
Second, the author assumes that if their company starts building more of their homes with larger family rooms and more high-tech kitchens that their profits and sales will increase. However, the author fails to make a compelling case for why this decision might improve their profits and sales. For example, the opposite may come true, this modification may cost their business a fortune. Moreover, the author would be spending money on features that are not even in demand from buyers. If the author aims to improve their profits they should consider at least several different alternatives before settling on this decision.
Third, another error made in the given argument is that the author mistakenly assumes that Domus Construction’s success in home sales is because their homes were built with larger family rooms and state of the art kitchens. While it may be true that Domus also has these features in their homes it is foolish to believe this is the only reason behind their success. For example, Domus Construction may be more successful due to any number of reasons, they place an emphasis on an aesthetically pleasing home that caters to a high-end clientele. Therefore, it may not be the specific features of the home that have engendered Domus Construction’s success it may in fact have to do with the aesthetic of the home or the location they are built that determine their success.
In sum, the inference drawn by the author is fallacious, at least without addressing the assumptions laid out above. To bolster the argument the author might benefit from including important background information related to the specific home features most desired by their clientele. Moreover, it is necessary to identify a more cost-efficient
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: 564 350
No. of Characters: 2826 1500
No. of Different Words: 256 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.873 4.7
Average Word Length: 5.011 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.692 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 201 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 148 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 106 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 56 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 25.636 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 8.621 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.773 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.308 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.524 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.059 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 3, column 813, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[2]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'authors'' or 'author's'?
Suggestion: authors'; author's
... cannot be used to effectively back the authors argument. Second, the author assu...
^^^^^^^
Line 3, column 831, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
... effectively back the authors argument. Second, the author assumes that if their...
^^^^^^
Line 5, column 488, Rule ID: SENTENCE_FRAGMENT[1]
Message: “If” 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.
...hat are not even in demand from buyers. If the author aims to improve their profit...
^^
Line 5, column 562, Rule ID: NUMEROUS_DIFFERENT[1]
Message: Use simply 'several'.
Suggestion: several
...r profits they should consider at least several different alternatives before settling on this de...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 7, column 198, Rule ID: STATE_OF_THE_ART[1]
Message: Did you mean 'state-of-the-art'?
Suggestion: state-of-the-art
...were built with larger family rooms and state of the art kitchens. While it may be true that Dom...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 7, column 225, Rule ID: SENTENCE_FRAGMENT[1]
Message: “While” 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.
...ly rooms and state of the art kitchens. While it may be true that Domus also has thes...
^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, but, first, furthermore, however, if, may, moreover, second, so, therefore, third, well, while, at least, for example, in fact
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 23.0 19.6327345309 117% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 20.0 12.9520958084 154% => OK
Conjunction : 13.0 11.1786427146 116% => OK
Relative clauses : 16.0 13.6137724551 118% => OK
Pronoun: 49.0 28.8173652695 170% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 68.0 55.5748502994 122% => OK
Nominalization: 13.0 16.3942115768 79% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2888.0 2260.96107784 128% => OK
No of words: 564.0 441.139720559 128% => OK
Chars per words: 5.12056737589 5.12650576532 100% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.87326216964 4.56307096286 107% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.78533627848 2.78398813304 100% => OK
Unique words: 261.0 204.123752495 128% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.462765957447 0.468620217663 99% => OK
syllable_count: 900.0 705.55239521 128% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.59920159681 100% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 6.0 4.96107784431 121% => OK
Article: 12.0 8.76447105788 137% => OK
Subordination: 5.0 2.70958083832 185% => OK
Conjunction: 2.0 1.67365269461 119% => OK
Preposition: 3.0 4.22255489022 71% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 22.0 19.7664670659 111% => OK
Sentence length: 25.0 22.8473053892 109% => OK
Sentence length SD: 50.630487663 57.8364921388 88% => OK
Chars per sentence: 131.272727273 119.503703932 110% => OK
Words per sentence: 25.6363636364 23.324526521 110% => OK
Discourse Markers: 6.0 5.70786347227 105% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 6.0 5.25449101796 114% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 14.0 8.20758483034 171% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 3.0 6.88822355289 44% => 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: 0.309260208417 0.218282227539 142% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.101798090023 0.0743258471296 137% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.128718252964 0.0701772020484 183% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.185691209525 0.128457276422 145% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.127149477204 0.0628817314937 202% => More connections among paragraphs wanted.
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 15.5 14.3799401198 108% => 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: 12.71 12.5979740519 101% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.43 8.32208582834 101% => OK
difficult_words: 127.0 98.500998004 129% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 13.5 12.3882235529 109% => OK
gunning_fog: 12.0 11.1389221557 108% => OK
text_standard: 13.0 11.9071856287 109% => 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.