The following appeared in a memo from a vice president of Quiot Manufacturing.
"During the past year, Quiot Manufacturing had 30 percent more on-the-job accidents than at the nearby Panoply Industries plant, where the work shifts are one hour shorter than ours. Experts say that significant contributing factors in many on-the-job accidents are fatigue and sleep deprivation among workers. Therefore, to reduce the number of on-the-job accidents at Quiot and thereby increase productivity, we should shorten each of our three work shifts by one hour so that employees will get adequate amounts of sleep."
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 the Quiot Manufacturing company claims that working hours for all of the three work shifts of the company should be reduced by an hour to bring down the number of on-the-job accidents. In support of this conclusion, the vice president reasons that the extra hour will be beneficial for the workers as they will be not be exhausted and will be able to relax more. However, before the author's argument is properly evaluated, three pieces of evidence must be collected and analyzed.
Firstly, the vice president readily assumes that the what applies to the Panoply plant can be automatically applied to the plant at Quiot. What if the day-to-day operations of the workers are simpler and less dangerous than the every day tasks of the workers an Panoply? If this scenario holds merit, then the conclusion drawn in the original argument is significantly weakened.
Secondly, the vice president also points out that if the Quiot Manufacturing plant reduces the working hour, the workers will utilize that time to rest and relax. What if they don't? For example, it is possible that the workers spend that time in shopping with their families or perhaps watching television or even playing video game. It means, the workers won't be able rejuvinate themselves as the vice presdent immaturely assumed. If that is the case, the author's initial argument stands invalid.
Finally, the vice presdent cites that Quiot plant had 30 percent more accidents than the panoply plant. However, this is just a percentage and thus, can be highly misleading. Unless the number of the employees working at each plant is not given, it is not wise to simply implement the policies of panoply plant at the plant of Quiot.
In conclusion, the vice president's argument, as it stands now, is flawed due to its reliance on several unwarranted assumptions. If the vice president will be able to provide the three pieces of evidence stated above and perhaps conduct a systematic analysis, he/she will be able to logically evaluate the cause of the work related incidents at the Quiot plant.
Comments
e-rater score report
Attribute Value Ideal
Final score: 4.0 out of 6
Category: Good Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 3 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 7 2
No. of Sentences: 15 15
No. of Words: 352 350
No. of Characters: 1697 1500
No. of Different Words: 172 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.331 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.821 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.577 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 117 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 101 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 60 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 36 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 23.467 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 8.747 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.733 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.353 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.59 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.042 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 85, Rule ID: ALL_OF_THE[1]
Message: Simply use 'all the'.
Suggestion: all the
...g company claims that working hours for all of the three work shifts of the company should...
^^^^^^^^^^
Line 1, column 406, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[1]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'authors'' or 'author's'?
Suggestion: authors'; author's
...able to relax more. However, before the authors argument is properly evaluated, three p...
^^^^^^^
Line 3, column 225, Rule ID: ANINFOR_EVERY_DAY[1]
Message: Did you mean 'the everyday'?
Suggestion: the everyday
...ers are simpler and less dangerous than the every day tasks of the workers an Panoply? If thi...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 3, column 260, Rule ID: EN_A_VS_AN
Message: Use 'a' instead of 'an' if the following word doesn't start with a vowel sound, e.g. 'a sentence', 'a university'
Suggestion: a
...than the every day tasks of the workers an Panoply? If this scenario holds merit, ...
^^
Line 5, column 177, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: don't
...at time to rest and relax. What if they dont? For example, it is possible that the w...
^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, finally, first, firstly, however, if, second, secondly, so, then, thus, for example, in conclusion
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 20.0 19.6327345309 102% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 10.0 12.9520958084 77% => OK
Conjunction : 8.0 11.1786427146 72% => OK
Relative clauses : 9.0 13.6137724551 66% => More relative clauses wanted.
Pronoun: 23.0 28.8173652695 80% => OK
Preposition: 39.0 55.5748502994 70% => OK
Nominalization: 8.0 16.3942115768 49% => More nominalizations (nouns with a suffix like: tion ment ence ance) wanted.
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1744.0 2260.96107784 77% => OK
No of words: 349.0 441.139720559 79% => More content wanted.
Chars per words: 4.99713467049 5.12650576532 97% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.32221490584 4.56307096286 95% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.63868379973 2.78398813304 95% => OK
Unique words: 173.0 204.123752495 85% => More unique words wanted.
Unique words percentage: 0.495702005731 0.468620217663 106% => OK
syllable_count: 536.4 705.55239521 76% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.59920159681 94% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 5.0 4.96107784431 101% => OK
Article: 9.0 8.76447105788 103% => OK
Subordination: 6.0 2.70958083832 221% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 0.0 1.67365269461 0% => OK
Preposition: 3.0 4.22255489022 71% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 16.0 19.7664670659 81% => Need more sentences. Double check the format of sentences, make sure there is a space between two sentences, or have enough periods. And also check the lengths of sentences, maybe they are too long.
Sentence length: 21.0 22.8473053892 92% => OK
Sentence length SD: 52.1964064256 57.8364921388 90% => OK
Chars per sentence: 109.0 119.503703932 91% => OK
Words per sentence: 21.8125 23.324526521 94% => OK
Discourse Markers: 6.5 5.70786347227 114% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 5.0 5.25449101796 95% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 4.0 8.20758483034 49% => More positive sentences wanted.
Sentences with negative sentiment : 8.0 6.88822355289 116% => 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: 0.275930701373 0.218282227539 126% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.091276441544 0.0743258471296 123% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.109188266881 0.0701772020484 156% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.162895038396 0.128457276422 127% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0728400830234 0.0628817314937 116% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 13.0 14.3799401198 90% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 58.62 48.3550499002 121% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.1628742515 123% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 10.3 12.197005988 84% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 11.72 12.5979740519 93% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.48 8.32208582834 102% => OK
difficult_words: 84.0 98.500998004 85% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 13.5 12.3882235529 109% => OK
gunning_fog: 10.4 11.1389221557 93% => OK
text_standard: 10.0 11.9071856287 84% => 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.