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 discuss what specific evidence is needed to evaluate the argument and explain how the evidence would weaken or strengthen the argument.
The argument above praises the special feature the company incorporated in its product. It goes further and states how this socks, though advertised to be strong enough to last two years, is constantly being replaced with new ones by the customers. It ends with a possible solution to mend this problem. The solution might seem far fetched and not enough at first glance. But when the assumptions made by the company in the manufacturing of "Endure" socks is revised, it becomes evidently clear as to why it is the optimum solution.
The memo does not discuss the criteria it uses to determine the endurance of the socks. Consider, Canada where the temperature can drop to less than minus forty degrees and more. The socks needs to be thick and sturdy to endure such harsh winters. But during the summers where the mornings are burning hot, the socks needs to be light and breathable. The company proclaims that the socks are strong enough to last for two years but have not mentioned in which circumstances are these claims valid. They also fail to mention the weather conditions they are most suitable for.
Building from the above argument, the memo also have not mentioned the type of 'endurance' the socks posses. They never stated whether the socks are strong enough that they never tear or whether they are strong enough that they never lose their color or size. "Endurance" can be interpreted in many ways and this ambiguous explanation does not give the assurance people need to buy it. Adding to this, The company praised the "endurance" of the socks and yet failed to mention about its elasticity. Most often socks become lose around the edges and hang down as time passes. This prompts people to replace them constantly no matter how strong or tear-free they are.
People come in different sizes. For example, imagine a man weighing more than 200 pounds at the start of the year when he buys the socks. Assume that he lost half his weight by the end of the year. There is no guarantee that these socks would still fit him. People are never constant when it comes to their sizes and most often these socks needs to be replaced to fit their current size and requirement.
From the above assumption, it is clear why people would like to constantly restock their socks. When the need for restocking is evident, it is not surprising that the customers rather opt for stylish and better looking socks over design-less and plain looking ones. Fashion is revered in the present world and it is expected to find more and more people opting for fashionable clothing even when it comes to socks. In conclusion, to appease the falling sales it is better to discontinue the production of "endurance" socks and adopt the outmoded way of producing socks in colorful and trending patterns and designs.
Comments
e-rater score report
Attribute Value Ideal
Final score: 4.0 out of 6
Category: Good Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 10 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 6 2
No. of Sentences: 26 15
No. of Words: 484 350
No. of Characters: 2263 1500
No. of Different Words: 239 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.69 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.676 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.343 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 143 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 103 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 62 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 41 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 18.615 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 6.906 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.346 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.275 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.275 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.088 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 1 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 2, column 189, Rule ID: AGREEMENT_SENT_START[1]
Message: You should probably use 'need'.
Suggestion: need
...minus forty degrees and more. The socks needs to be thick and sturdy to endure such h...
^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, but, first, if, look, so, still, as to, for example, in conclusion
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 24.0 19.6327345309 122% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 7.0 12.9520958084 54% => OK
Conjunction : 24.0 11.1786427146 215% => Less conjunction wanted
Relative clauses : 14.0 13.6137724551 103% => OK
Pronoun: 44.0 28.8173652695 153% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 57.0 55.5748502994 103% => OK
Nominalization: 14.0 16.3942115768 85% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2358.0 2260.96107784 104% => OK
No of words: 484.0 441.139720559 110% => OK
Chars per words: 4.87190082645 5.12650576532 95% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.69041575982 4.56307096286 103% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.76612076437 2.78398813304 99% => OK
Unique words: 243.0 204.123752495 119% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.502066115702 0.468620217663 107% => OK
syllable_count: 709.2 705.55239521 101% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.59920159681 94% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 8.0 4.96107784431 161% => OK
Article: 8.0 8.76447105788 91% => OK
Subordination: 2.0 2.70958083832 74% => OK
Conjunction: 2.0 1.67365269461 119% => OK
Preposition: 4.0 4.22255489022 95% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 26.0 19.7664670659 132% => OK
Sentence length: 18.0 22.8473053892 79% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively short.
Sentence length SD: 43.2185172893 57.8364921388 75% => OK
Chars per sentence: 90.6923076923 119.503703932 76% => OK
Words per sentence: 18.6153846154 23.324526521 80% => OK
Discourse Markers: 2.76923076923 5.70786347227 49% => More transition words/phrases wanted.
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 1.0 5.25449101796 19% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 13.0 8.20758483034 158% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 9.0 6.88822355289 131% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 4.0 4.67664670659 86% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.145559233164 0.218282227539 67% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0439740081768 0.0743258471296 59% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0402921656289 0.0701772020484 57% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.0864480590558 0.128457276422 67% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.02249617301 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: 10.8 14.3799401198 75% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 61.67 48.3550499002 128% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 7.1628742515 43% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 9.1 12.197005988 75% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 10.97 12.5979740519 87% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 7.99 8.32208582834 96% => OK
difficult_words: 106.0 98.500998004 108% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 8.0 12.3882235529 65% => OK
gunning_fog: 9.2 11.1389221557 83% => OK
text_standard: 8.0 11.9071856287 67% => The average readability is low. Need to imporve the language.
What are above readability scores?
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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.