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.
It is stated in the memorandum that recent surveys indicate home owners are increasingly eager to conserve energy. At the same time manufacturers are marketing energy sufficient home appliances. Also, new technologies for better home insulation and passive solar heating are readily available to reduce energy needed for home heating. Therefore, the total demand for electricity in the area will not increase and construction of new generating plants will not be necessary. While these may be true, but they stand on some unwarranted assumptions, if not substantiated, dramatically weaken the argument. So, before evaluating the substantiality of the argument the following four questions must be answered.
First of all, is the author considering the business offices and large companies that demand large amount of electricity in the corresponding area? While due to the new technologies the home appliances are now more energy efficient reducing the usage of electricity; the offices and companies run their electronic devices on a heavy load and need a lot of electricity daily. It can also happen that while home appliances are reducing the electricity demand, the local businesses and offices further increase and the overall demand may not decrease at all. Rather skyrocketing the demand of electricity due to immense workload in businesses and companies. It can happen that the area suddenly builds more shops and malls that also need huge supply of electricity to run. So, without considering these aspects the author's assumptions doesn't hold its persuasiveness. In order to prove its credibility these situations must be considered. If any of these scenarios are true, the author's recommendation loses its significance.
Secondly, is the author considering the population of that area will stay constant over the years or not increase at all? While the energy efficient home appliances may be installed in the residential area, it can also happen that the population over the years will increase and therefore increase the demand of electricity in that area. So, the assumption of the author that the demand of electricity will decrease may not be the case at all. Before coming to such conclusion which is the company don’t need to plant anymore electricity generating plants, the planning department should consider such a crucial factor like population. Any increase in the population will affect the supply and demand of electricity conservation. SO, without proper research on this matter, the author's proposition might not hold water.
Thirdly, the author mentioned in his memorandum, the three plants in operation are 20 years old. As a result, we can consider the technologies that are used in the plant are 20 years old and are not like the new energy efficient technology author has mentioned. So, these plants’ infrastructure might not be energy efficient creating more electricity demand. As old technologies have to be replaced with new technologies with time, these plants rather stayed with 20 years old compliances. So, the author has to check its own company’s technologies to keep updated and be more energy efficient. With this scenario considered, the authors proposal is significantly weakened.
Finally, the author is considering that all of the residents in that area will be able to purchase the energy efficient home appliances which in reality might not be the case. While some of the residents still be able to buy them, there will be some of them who will not have enough money to buy the new home appliances. Without considering this situation, the author blindly believes all of the people in that area are going to be able to afford these tools, which loosens the strength of the argument.
In sum, as it stands now, the author considers the argument on the basis of some unwarranted assumptions without proper evidence. Without proving the above questions, the argument will not be persuasive enough and may not be considered feasible. Thus, the author should provide some evidence on his claim (perhaps in the form of a systematic research study). Then it will be possible to fully evaluate the validity of the argument.
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: 5 2
No. of Sentences: 33 15
No. of Words: 671 350
No. of Characters: 3424 1500
No. of Different Words: 260 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 5.09 4.7
Average Word Length: 5.103 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.913 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 246 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 180 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 149 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 103 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 20.333 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 7.322 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.697 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.286 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.495 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.108 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 6 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 604, Rule ID: SENTENCE_FRAGMENT[4]
Message: “So , before” 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.
...ated, dramatically weaken the argument. So, before evaluating the substantiality of the ar...
^^^^^^^^^^
Line 3, column 557, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: Rather,
...overall demand may not decrease at all. Rather skyrocketing the demand of electricity ...
^^^^^^
Line 3, column 833, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: doesn't
...g these aspects the authors assumptions doesnt hold its persuasiveness. In order to pr...
^^^^^^
Line 3, column 976, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[1]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'authors'' or 'author's'?
Suggestion: authors'; author's
...If any of these scenarios are true, the authors recommendation loses its significance. ...
^^^^^^^
Line 7, column 631, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[1]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'authors'' or 'author's'?
Suggestion: authors'; author's
...ent. With this scenario considered, the authors proposal is significantly weakened. ...
^^^^^^^
Line 9, column 41, Rule ID: ALL_OF_THE[1]
Message: Simply use 'all the'.
Suggestion: all the
...Finally, the author is considering that all of the residents in that area will be able to ...
^^^^^^^^^^
Line 9, column 183, Rule ID: SOME_OF_THE[1]
Message: Simply use 'some'.
Suggestion: some
...in reality might not be the case. While some of the residents still be able to buy them, th...
^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 9, column 386, Rule ID: ALL_OF_THE[1]
Message: Simply use 'all the'.
Suggestion: all the
... situation, the author blindly believes all of the people in that area are going to be abl...
^^^^^^^^^^
Line 11, column 431, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
... evaluate the validity of the argument.
^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, but, finally, first, if, may, second, secondly, so, still, then, therefore, third, thirdly, thus, while, as to, as a result, first of all
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 34.0 19.6327345309 173% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 30.0 12.9520958084 232% => Less auxiliary verb wanted.
Conjunction : 16.0 11.1786427146 143% => OK
Relative clauses : 17.0 13.6137724551 125% => OK
Pronoun: 40.0 28.8173652695 139% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 85.0 55.5748502994 153% => OK
Nominalization: 22.0 16.3942115768 134% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 3516.0 2260.96107784 156% => OK
No of words: 669.0 441.139720559 152% => Less content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.25560538117 5.12650576532 103% => OK
Fourth root words length: 5.08576781939 4.56307096286 111% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.97468508306 2.78398813304 107% => OK
Unique words: 277.0 204.123752495 136% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.414050822123 0.468620217663 88% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 1123.2 705.55239521 159% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.7 1.59920159681 106% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 7.0 4.96107784431 141% => OK
Article: 16.0 8.76447105788 183% => OK
Subordination: 11.0 2.70958083832 406% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 1.0 1.67365269461 60% => OK
Preposition: 10.0 4.22255489022 237% => Less preposition wanted as sentence beginnings.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 33.0 19.7664670659 167% => OK
Sentence length: 20.0 22.8473053892 88% => OK
Sentence length SD: 40.3132591258 57.8364921388 70% => OK
Chars per sentence: 106.545454545 119.503703932 89% => OK
Words per sentence: 20.2727272727 23.324526521 87% => OK
Discourse Markers: 4.33333333333 5.70786347227 76% => OK
Paragraphs: 6.0 5.15768463074 116% => OK
Language errors: 9.0 5.25449101796 171% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 16.0 8.20758483034 195% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 11.0 6.88822355289 160% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 6.0 4.67664670659 128% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.197072361734 0.218282227539 90% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.061052874457 0.0743258471296 82% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0882878084473 0.0701772020484 126% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.113249622087 0.128457276422 88% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0934439408534 0.0628817314937 149% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 13.5 14.3799401198 94% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 42.72 48.3550499002 88% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.1628742515 123% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 12.3 12.197005988 101% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 13.23 12.5979740519 105% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.15 8.32208582834 98% => OK
difficult_words: 149.0 98.500998004 151% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 10.5 12.3882235529 85% => OK
gunning_fog: 10.0 11.1389221557 90% => OK
text_standard: 14.0 11.9071856287 118% => 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.