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.
The author claims that there is no need for new generating plants since the total demand for electricity in the area will not increase. He or she offers an interesting argument but it suffers from some logical flaws and gaps in evidence. While the connections suggested are reasonable, there are many other scenarios that should encourage the company building new generating plants.
To begin with, consider the surveys which indicates that home owners are increasingly eager to conserve energy. The author assumes that home owner's interest in conserving energy will decrease the electricity usage in the area. Yet there is no reason to believe that responses on a survey will correspond to actual behavior. Many surveys conducted at the start of a new year find that people are devoted to losing weight, or learning a language. However we rarely see a corresponding uptick in gym memberships or language courses. Are they really willing to use less energy at the expense of lots of convenience: warm winter, cool summer, fresh air, etc.? Without answering the question we cannot determine that there is no need to construct new generating facilities because of less energy demand prediction.
What's more, the author does not provide information of survey participants. Who does answer the survey? Where do the participants located? The willingness of energy savings differs among areas. The residents of area where the company located might prefer their conveniences rather than energy savings. Let us assume though that home owners in the area really eager to save energy. Then we are prompted to ask whether they can choose home policy independently. As we all know, home users usually do not live alone. They live with their family members, friends, roommates, etc. The home users need housemates's agreement before choosing the home policy and the housemates could disagree to the home owner's willingness to save energy at the expense of comforts. Therefore it is not logical to assume that home user's real interest will lead to actual energy preservation.
Next, the author presents existence of energy efficient home appliances that are being marketed by manufacturers as the evidence to his or her claim. However it is hasty to claim that energy efficient home appliances will lead to decrease in energy usage. The author offers no information about how many these appliances sold currently. The area's citizens may not afford to buy these goods. The area's citizens may prefer large book cases, comfortable chairs, soft sofas rather than energy efficient refrigerators or air conditioners. Therefore the author should show that the area dwellers really prefer to buy the energy efficient goods and they afford to buy them.
Finally, the author claims that since the existing energy generating plants had met the needs, they will meet the needs in future. However, as we all know, the machines are consumables. Operating machine makes the machine aging. We cannot take for granted that existing electric generating plants will performs as currently in future without evidence.
A close examination of all the assumptions made in the author's proposal reveals that the company does not have enough justification not to construct new generating machineries. Although the proposal certainly points out a possible course of action, the company should not act until they have more information.
Comments
Essay evaluations by e-grader
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 3, column 446, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: However,
... losing weight, or learning a language. However we rarely see a corresponding uptick in...
^^^^^^^
Line 5, column 1, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: What's
...se of less energy demand prediction. Whats more, the author does not provide infor...
^^^^^
Line 5, column 434, Rule ID: AFFORD_VB[1]
Message: This verb is used with the infinitive: 'to home'
Suggestion: to home
...prompted to ask whether they can choose home policy independently. As we all know, h...
^^^^
Line 5, column 697, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[1]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'owners'' or 'owner's'?
Suggestion: owners'; owner's
...e housemates could disagree to the home owners willingness to save energy at the expen...
^^^^^^
Line 5, column 759, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: Therefore,
...save energy at the expense of comforts. Therefore it is not logical to assume that home u...
^^^^^^^^^
Line 7, column 151, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: However,
...rs as the evidence to his or her claim. However it is hasty to claim that energy effici...
^^^^^^^
Line 7, column 392, Rule ID: ENGLISH_WORD_REPEAT_BEGINNING_RULE
Message: Three successive sentences begin with the same word. Reword the sentence or use a thesaurus to find a synonym.
...zens may not afford to buy these goods. The areas citizens may prefer large book ca...
^^^
Line 7, column 535, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: Therefore,
...ient refrigerators or air conditioners. Therefore the author should show that the area dw...
^^^^^^^^^
Line 9, column 121, Rule ID: IN_PAST[1]
Message: Did you mean: 'in the future'?
Suggestion: in the future
...met the needs, they will meet the needs in future. However, as we all know, the machines ...
^^^^^^^^^
Line 9, column 303, Rule ID: DID_BASEFORM[1]
Message: The verb 'will' requires the base form of the verb: 'perform'
Suggestion: perform
...xisting electric generating plants will performs as currently in future without evidence...
^^^^^^^^
Line 11, column 56, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[1]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'authors'' or 'author's'?
Suggestion: authors'; author's
...tion of all the assumptions made in the authors proposal reveals that the company does ...
^^^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
but, finally, however, if, may, really, so, then, therefore, well, while, to begin with
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 14.0 19.6327345309 71% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 20.0 12.9520958084 154% => OK
Conjunction : 10.0 11.1786427146 89% => OK
Relative clauses : 19.0 13.6137724551 140% => OK
Pronoun: 40.0 28.8173652695 139% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 58.0 55.5748502994 104% => OK
Nominalization: 15.0 16.3942115768 91% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2864.0 2260.96107784 127% => OK
No of words: 544.0 441.139720559 123% => OK
Chars per words: 5.26470588235 5.12650576532 103% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.82947280553 4.56307096286 106% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.72506587013 2.78398813304 98% => OK
Unique words: 276.0 204.123752495 135% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.507352941176 0.468620217663 108% => OK
syllable_count: 910.8 705.55239521 129% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.7 1.59920159681 106% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 4.0 4.96107784431 81% => OK
Article: 14.0 8.76447105788 160% => OK
Subordination: 4.0 2.70958083832 148% => OK
Conjunction: 2.0 1.67365269461 119% => OK
Preposition: 2.0 4.22255489022 47% => More preposition wanted as sentence beginning.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 33.0 19.7664670659 167% => OK
Sentence length: 16.0 22.8473053892 70% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively short.
Sentence length SD: 39.9732233609 57.8364921388 69% => OK
Chars per sentence: 86.7878787879 119.503703932 73% => OK
Words per sentence: 16.4848484848 23.324526521 71% => OK
Discourse Markers: 2.63636363636 5.70786347227 46% => More transition words/phrases wanted.
Paragraphs: 6.0 5.15768463074 116% => OK
Language errors: 11.0 5.25449101796 209% => Less language errors wanted.
Sentences with positive sentiment : 18.0 8.20758483034 219% => Less positive sentences wanted.
Sentences with negative sentiment : 6.0 6.88822355289 87% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 9.0 4.67664670659 192% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.242128735896 0.218282227539 111% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0596783054973 0.0743258471296 80% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0646071672582 0.0701772020484 92% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.109062978856 0.128457276422 85% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0731643336967 0.0628817314937 116% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 11.6 14.3799401198 81% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 46.78 48.3550499002 97% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.1628742515 123% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 10.7 12.197005988 88% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.93 12.5979740519 103% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.2 8.32208582834 99% => OK
difficult_words: 130.0 98.500998004 132% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 8.5 12.3882235529 69% => OK
gunning_fog: 8.4 11.1389221557 75% => OK
text_standard: 9.0 11.9071856287 76% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Rates: 66.67 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 4.0 Out of 6
---------------------
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.
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 3, column 446, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: However,
... losing weight, or learning a language. However we rarely see a corresponding uptick in...
^^^^^^^
Line 5, column 1, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: What's
...se of less energy demand prediction. Whats more, the author does not provide infor...
^^^^^
Line 5, column 434, Rule ID: AFFORD_VB[1]
Message: This verb is used with the infinitive: 'to home'
Suggestion: to home
...prompted to ask whether they can choose home policy independently. As we all know, h...
^^^^
Line 5, column 697, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[1]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'owners'' or 'owner's'?
Suggestion: owners'; owner's
...e housemates could disagree to the home owners willingness to save energy at the expen...
^^^^^^
Line 5, column 759, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: Therefore,
...save energy at the expense of comforts. Therefore it is not logical to assume that home u...
^^^^^^^^^
Line 7, column 151, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: However,
...rs as the evidence to his or her claim. However it is hasty to claim that energy effici...
^^^^^^^
Line 7, column 392, Rule ID: ENGLISH_WORD_REPEAT_BEGINNING_RULE
Message: Three successive sentences begin with the same word. Reword the sentence or use a thesaurus to find a synonym.
...zens may not afford to buy these goods. The areas citizens may prefer large book ca...
^^^
Line 7, column 535, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: Therefore,
...ient refrigerators or air conditioners. Therefore the author should show that the area dw...
^^^^^^^^^
Line 9, column 121, Rule ID: IN_PAST[1]
Message: Did you mean: 'in the future'?
Suggestion: in the future
...met the needs, they will meet the needs in future. However, as we all know, the machines ...
^^^^^^^^^
Line 9, column 303, Rule ID: DID_BASEFORM[1]
Message: The verb 'will' requires the base form of the verb: 'perform'
Suggestion: perform
...xisting electric generating plants will performs as currently in future without evidence...
^^^^^^^^
Line 11, column 56, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[1]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'authors'' or 'author's'?
Suggestion: authors'; author's
...tion of all the assumptions made in the authors proposal reveals that the company does ...
^^^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
but, finally, however, if, may, really, so, then, therefore, well, while, to begin with
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 14.0 19.6327345309 71% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 20.0 12.9520958084 154% => OK
Conjunction : 10.0 11.1786427146 89% => OK
Relative clauses : 19.0 13.6137724551 140% => OK
Pronoun: 40.0 28.8173652695 139% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 58.0 55.5748502994 104% => OK
Nominalization: 15.0 16.3942115768 91% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2864.0 2260.96107784 127% => OK
No of words: 544.0 441.139720559 123% => OK
Chars per words: 5.26470588235 5.12650576532 103% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.82947280553 4.56307096286 106% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.72506587013 2.78398813304 98% => OK
Unique words: 276.0 204.123752495 135% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.507352941176 0.468620217663 108% => OK
syllable_count: 910.8 705.55239521 129% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.7 1.59920159681 106% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 4.0 4.96107784431 81% => OK
Article: 14.0 8.76447105788 160% => OK
Subordination: 4.0 2.70958083832 148% => OK
Conjunction: 2.0 1.67365269461 119% => OK
Preposition: 2.0 4.22255489022 47% => More preposition wanted as sentence beginning.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 33.0 19.7664670659 167% => OK
Sentence length: 16.0 22.8473053892 70% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively short.
Sentence length SD: 39.9732233609 57.8364921388 69% => OK
Chars per sentence: 86.7878787879 119.503703932 73% => OK
Words per sentence: 16.4848484848 23.324526521 71% => OK
Discourse Markers: 2.63636363636 5.70786347227 46% => More transition words/phrases wanted.
Paragraphs: 6.0 5.15768463074 116% => OK
Language errors: 11.0 5.25449101796 209% => Less language errors wanted.
Sentences with positive sentiment : 18.0 8.20758483034 219% => Less positive sentences wanted.
Sentences with negative sentiment : 6.0 6.88822355289 87% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 9.0 4.67664670659 192% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.242128735896 0.218282227539 111% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0596783054973 0.0743258471296 80% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0646071672582 0.0701772020484 92% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.109062978856 0.128457276422 85% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0731643336967 0.0628817314937 116% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 11.6 14.3799401198 81% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 46.78 48.3550499002 97% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.1628742515 123% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 10.7 12.197005988 88% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.93 12.5979740519 103% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.2 8.32208582834 99% => OK
difficult_words: 130.0 98.500998004 132% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 8.5 12.3882235529 69% => OK
gunning_fog: 8.4 11.1389221557 75% => OK
text_standard: 9.0 11.9071856287 76% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Rates: 66.67 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 4.0 Out of 6
---------------------
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.