The following appeared in a memo from the vice president of marketing at Dura-Sock, Inc.
"A recent study of our customers suggests that our company is wasting the money it spends on its patented Endure manufacturing process, which ensures that our socks are strong enough to last for two years. We have always advertised our use of the Endure process, but the new study shows that despite our socks' durability, our average customer actually purchases new Dura-Socks every three months. Furthermore, our customers surveyed in our largest market, northeastern United States cities, say that they most value Dura-Socks' stylish appearance and availability in many colors. These findings suggest that we can increase our profits by discontinuing use of the Endure manufacturing process."
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 vice president of marketing suggests that the patented manufacturing process to produce more durable socks must be discontinued as its consumers prefer its socks for their color and style over their longevity. By doing so, he suggests that it would increase the company's profit. This statement might be true, however, there are a few assumptions that it is based on which may weaken the argument.
First, The author needs to provide us more evidence on the benefits of the 'Endure manufacturing process. It states that it ensures the socks can last for 2 years from this manufacturing process. Has the company done enough testing and user reviews to test its claim? Even though it's claimed to last 2 years, the average customers might be using it in rougher conditions, due to which it gets worn out faster and hence they change it every 3 months. Also, are there any other benefits of using the process? It could be that the patented method produces less waste or runs more efficiently, thus being more profitable for the company compared to others.
Also, would removing the patented process be more profitable? the cost to remove and replace it with other equipments for the new process along with the training of staff to use it, could add up the cost of the company. Thus, only if the company is sure these costs would be profitable in the long run should the company consider removing them.
Finally, the consumer survey suggests that customers prefer Dura-socks for their style and availability of colors. While this may be true, durability may be an unsaid factor due to which these customers continue to buy socks from the same company again. The style and color of the socks are it's first impression but its regular customer might find the longevity of the socks as a reason to buy it again. Thus Dura-Sock would lose such customers if it plans to discontinue the process. Also, to increase its profits, the company should conduct a survey of patrons of other brands to understand what factors Dura-Sock can improve on to increase its market share.
In conclusion, the Vice President needs to provide evidence on the above assumptions to make the argument more persuasive.
Comments
e-rater score report
Attribute Value Ideal
Final score: 3.5 out of 6
Category: Satisfactory Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 8 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 2 2
No. of Sentences: 17 15
No. of Words: 373 350
No. of Characters: 1778 1500
No. of Different Words: 187 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.395 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.767 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.496 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 116 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 91 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 58 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 34 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 21.941 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 8.447 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.824 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.329 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.551 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.096 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 3, column 72, Rule ID: A_INFINITVE[1]
Message: Probably a wrong construction: a/the + infinitive
...ide us more evidence on the benefits of the Endure manufacturing process. It states that i...
^^^^^^^^^^
Line 3, column 156, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...that it ensures the socks can last for 2 years from this manufacturing process. H...
^^
Line 3, column 302, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...claim? Even though its claimed to last 2 years, the average customers might be us...
^^
Line 3, column 443, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
... faster and hence they change it every 3 months. Also, are there any other benefi...
^^
Line 5, column 13, Rule ID: DID_BASEFORM[1]
Message: The verb 'would' requires the base form of the verb: 'remove'
Suggestion: remove
...pany compared to others. Also, would removing the patented process be more profitable...
^^^^^^^^
Line 5, column 63, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: The
...he patented process be more profitable? the cost to remove and replace it with othe...
^^^
Line 7, column 405, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: Thus,
... the socks as a reason to buy it again. Thus Dura-Sock would lose such customers if ...
^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, but, finally, first, hence, however, if, may, so, thus, while, in conclusion
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 14.0 19.6327345309 71% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 17.0 12.9520958084 131% => OK
Conjunction : 8.0 11.1786427146 72% => OK
Relative clauses : 9.0 13.6137724551 66% => More relative clauses wanted.
Pronoun: 38.0 28.8173652695 132% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 43.0 55.5748502994 77% => OK
Nominalization: 5.0 16.3942115768 30% => More nominalizations (nouns with a suffix like: tion ment ence ance) wanted.
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1825.0 2260.96107784 81% => OK
No of words: 373.0 441.139720559 85% => More content wanted.
Chars per words: 4.8927613941 5.12650576532 95% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.39467950092 4.56307096286 96% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.56266894077 2.78398813304 92% => OK
Unique words: 188.0 204.123752495 92% => More unique words wanted.
Unique words percentage: 0.504021447721 0.468620217663 108% => OK
syllable_count: 565.2 705.55239521 80% => 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: 8.0 8.76447105788 91% => OK
Subordination: 2.0 2.70958083832 74% => OK
Conjunction: 0.0 1.67365269461 0% => OK
Preposition: 3.0 4.22255489022 71% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 18.0 19.7664670659 91% => OK
Sentence length: 20.0 22.8473053892 88% => OK
Sentence length SD: 43.654118921 57.8364921388 75% => OK
Chars per sentence: 101.388888889 119.503703932 85% => OK
Words per sentence: 20.7222222222 23.324526521 89% => OK
Discourse Markers: 4.55555555556 5.70786347227 80% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 7.0 5.25449101796 133% => 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: 0.269027798138 0.218282227539 123% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0908680795247 0.0743258471296 122% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0575677222841 0.0701772020484 82% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.147582091515 0.128457276422 115% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0787781474302 0.0628817314937 125% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 12.0 14.3799401198 83% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 59.64 48.3550499002 123% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 7.1628742515 43% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 9.9 12.197005988 81% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 11.08 12.5979740519 88% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 7.97 8.32208582834 96% => OK
difficult_words: 79.0 98.500998004 80% => More difficult words wanted.
linsear_write_formula: 11.0 12.3882235529 89% => OK
gunning_fog: 10.0 11.1389221557 90% => OK
text_standard: 10.0 11.9071856287 84% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Rates: 75.0 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 4.5 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.