The following appeared in a memorandum from the planning department of an electric power company.
"Several recent surveys indicate that home owners are increasingly eager to conserve energy. At the same time, manufacturers are now marketing many home appliances, such as refrigerators and air conditioners, that are almost twice as energy efficient as those sold a decade ago. Also, new technologies for better home insulation and passive solar heating are readily available to reduce the energy needed for home heating. Therefore, the total demand for electricity in our area will not increase — and may decline slightly. Since our three electric generating plants in operation for the past twenty years have always met our needs, construction of new generating plants will not be necessary."
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 memorandum from the planning department of an electric power company predicts the total demand for electricity in their area will not only not increase but may even decline slightly therefore, there is no need to build any more electric plants because the three they have continues to supply them with all the energy they need. The arguer cites survey results that indicate that certain homeowners are increasingly eager to converse energy. Furthermore, the arguer states manufacturers have begun marketing a variety of energy-efficient home appliances improve upon those sold a decade ago. Additionally, newer technologies have reduced the energy required for home heating. While this argument appears convincing at first glance, given a more in-depth analysis the argument suffers from several unsubstantiated assumptions that dramatically weaken the persuasiveness of the arguer’s claims.
First, a major flaw in the given argument is that the arguer erroneously assumes that the surveys are a valid and reliable measure. The author cites results taken from several surveys indicating that homeowners are increasingly eager to conserve energy. The author assumes that what people report on surveys can be taken at face value. It is highly likely that while people may say they are going to do one thing they most often do the exact opposite. So, even if one thousand people were polled in the surveys it is not guaranteed that will take measures to start conversing energy. Moreover, if the responses given in the survey are accurate and respondents went out and began buying and using these energy-efficient technologies and appliances, these results mean very little if they are not representative of the desires and motivations of the people living in the area the arguer mentions. Perhaps, the people living in this particular area have no interest in conserving energy or they don’t have the financial means to purchase these new appliances that could be very expensive. So, unless the survey is fully representative, valid, and reliable, it cannot be used to effectively back the author’s argument.
Second, another issue found in the given argument is that the arguer has unfairly assumed that the home appliances being advertised today save twice as much energy compared to those sold a decade ago. It is not clear, however, by how much these technologies saved today or those sold a decade ago. If it turned out that the appliances from a decade ago were already highly energy-efficient and helped save homeowners hundreds of dollars in electric bills, then there would not be a need to purchase these new appliances. Or conversely, if the older appliances reduced energy use by only a marginal amount and the new appliances saved twice that then this difference would not be all that impressive. If the difference between the amount of energy saved by these newer appliances is not all that different or better than the ones sold previously, then the author should provide alternative ways to reduce energy for homeowners.
Finally, the last error made in the given argument is that the author mistakenly assumes using these appliances and technologies will positively impact the total demand for electricity. Supposing that residents of the area do use energy-efficient products, it is not clear exactly how much electricity residents use in monthly or yearly. Perhaps, the area is a popular location for a series of music festivals and despite the concerted efforts of residents to conserve energy in their homes, electricity use continues to stay in high demand. Or maybe, the excess use of electricity is due to the poor habits of homeowners to leave the lights on or appliances or technologies in a near-constant use resulting in high energy consumption across a densely packed population of ten thousand. Therefore, if either of these two scenarios proved true, the arguer’s prediction would be unsupported and the decision not to build more power plants would be extremely foolish.
In sum, the conclusion drawn by the arguer is fallacious, at least without addressing the assumptions laid out above. To bolster the argument the author might benefit from gathering survey data from residents in the area to gauge their interest in conversing energy, research on the most efficient energy-saving appliances and technologies as well as assessing the current use of electricity of the current residents.
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: 25 15
No. of Words: 711 350
No. of Characters: 3657 1500
No. of Different Words: 308 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 5.164 4.7
Average Word Length: 5.143 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.896 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 267 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 191 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 144 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 99 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 28.44 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 11.093 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.68 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.31 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.496 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.101 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 3, column 453, Rule ID: SENTENCE_FRAGMENT[6]
Message: “So , even 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.
... they most often do the exact opposite. So, even if one thousand people were polled in the surveys it is not guaranteed that will take measures to start conversing energy. Moreover, if the responses given in the...
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Transition Words or Phrases used:
but, conversely, finally, first, furthermore, however, if, may, moreover, second, so, then, therefore, well, while, at least, as well as
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 29.0 19.6327345309 148% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 17.0 12.9520958084 131% => OK
Conjunction : 22.0 11.1786427146 197% => OK
Relative clauses : 18.0 13.6137724551 132% => OK
Pronoun: 49.0 28.8173652695 170% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 81.0 55.5748502994 146% => OK
Nominalization: 14.0 16.3942115768 85% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 3738.0 2260.96107784 165% => OK
No of words: 710.0 441.139720559 161% => Less content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.26478873239 5.12650576532 103% => OK
Fourth root words length: 5.1619594331 4.56307096286 113% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.96393718325 2.78398813304 106% => OK
Unique words: 314.0 204.123752495 154% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.442253521127 0.468620217663 94% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 1200.6 705.55239521 170% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.7 1.59920159681 106% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 6.0 4.96107784431 121% => OK
Article: 11.0 8.76447105788 126% => OK
Subordination: 8.0 2.70958083832 295% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 3.0 1.67365269461 179% => OK
Preposition: 4.0 4.22255489022 95% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 25.0 19.7664670659 126% => OK
Sentence length: 28.0 22.8473053892 123% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively long.
Sentence length SD: 68.1163710131 57.8364921388 118% => OK
Chars per sentence: 149.52 119.503703932 125% => OK
Words per sentence: 28.4 23.324526521 122% => OK
Discourse Markers: 5.44 5.70786347227 95% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 1.0 5.25449101796 19% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 15.0 8.20758483034 183% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 9.0 6.88822355289 131% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 1.0 4.67664670659 21% => More facts, knowledge or examples wanted.
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.227415581955 0.218282227539 104% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0666684699634 0.0743258471296 90% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0531948419999 0.0701772020484 76% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.136133250349 0.128457276422 106% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0810632106856 0.0628817314937 129% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 17.5 14.3799401198 122% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 34.6 48.3550499002 72% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.1628742515 123% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 15.4 12.197005988 126% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 13.52 12.5979740519 107% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.63 8.32208582834 104% => OK
difficult_words: 162.0 98.500998004 164% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 14.5 12.3882235529 117% => OK
gunning_fog: 13.2 11.1389221557 119% => OK
text_standard: 9.0 11.9071856287 76% => OK
What are above readability scores?
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Write the essay in 30 minutes.
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.