The following appeared as part of a petition sent to residents of Youngtown by an environmental protection group:
“The Smith Corporation should not be permitted to develop the land that is now part of the Youngtown Wildlife Preserve. This sanctuary is essential to the survival of the 300 bird species that live in our area. Although only a small percentage of the land will be sold to Smith, the proposed development will have disastrous consequences for our area. The company plans to build a small hotel on the land. Although they have promised to ensure the preservation of the sanctuary, there is no way that their plans will do anything but harm the sanctuary. There are no circumstances under which this sale will benefit our community, which relies on tourists who visit primarily to see our magnificent bird population.”
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 if the assumptions prove unwarranted.
Recently, an environmental protection group has been circulating a petition against Smith Corporation's proposed land development project on the Youngtown Wildlife Preserve, arguing that it would do nothing but harm the Youngtown's community. However, this petition must be examined carefully, as it contains many unstated assumptions and illogical arguments.
Firstmost, the petition writers claim that the Youngtown Wildlife Preserve is essential to the survival of the 300 bird species living in the area. However, this type of claim needs to be supported with some scientific evidence, such as reports from licensed biologists who have shown that the Preserve provides the necessary environmental conditions for all of the bird species to thrive. It's not unthinkable that biologists could actually find that the Preserve reduced the number of bird species capable of living in Youngtown, due to factors such as providing an environment conducive to natural bird predators.
The environmental protection group also argues that although, Smith Corporation, has promised to "ensure the preservation of the sanctuary," their plans will actually harm it. This kind of reasoning is illogicalunless their is an unstated assumption that companies are above the law and do not have public interest in mind. In reality, however, companies are regularly held accountable by the public, external organizations, and the government. And, companies don't aim to do harm, but instead to increase business and ultimately make profits for their shareholders.
The petition also states that the sale would not benefit the tourist-dependent community under any circumstances. It appears there is an unstated assumption that proposed land developments would hurt the tourist economy, but there is no evidence towards this. On the contrary, it is very possible that Smith Corporation's actions would actually highly benefit the tourism industry of the town, by providing a small hotel and other changes that would make it easier for tourists to visit.
While the arguments made by the environmental protection group may at first seem plausible, they are, in fact, based on many assumptions and faulty logic. It would be wise for all readers of the petition to carefully think before being swayed to sign.
Comments
Essay evaluation report
Attribute Value Ideal
Final score: 4.0 out of 6
Category: Good Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 0 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 0 2
No. of Sentences: 14 15
No. of Words: 352 350
No. of Characters: 1893 1500
No. of Different Words: 193 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.331 4.7
Average Word Length: 5.378 4.6
Word Length SD: 3.011 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 138 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 124 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 95 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 58 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 25.143 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 7.671 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.857 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.336 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.627 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.059 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 5, column 356, Rule ID: ALL_OF_THE[1]
Message: Simply use 'all the'.
Suggestion: all the
... necessary environmental conditions for all of the bird species to thrive. Its not unthink...
^^^^^^^^^^
Line 9, column 144, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Put a space after the comma
Suggestion: , &apos
...ensure the preservation of the sanctuary,' their plans will actually harm it. Thi...
^^^^^^
Line 9, column 229, Rule ID: THEIR_IS[1]
Message: Did you mean 'there'?
Suggestion: there
...is kind of reasoning is illogicalunless their is an unstated assumption that companie...
^^^^^
Line 9, column 471, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: don't
...ons, and the government. And, companies dont aim to do harm, but instead to increase...
^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
actually, also, but, first, however, if, may, so, while, in fact, kind of, such as, on the contrary
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 14.0 19.6327345309 71% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 10.0 12.9520958084 77% => OK
Conjunction : 9.0 11.1786427146 81% => OK
Relative clauses : 12.0 13.6137724551 88% => OK
Pronoun: 27.0 28.8173652695 94% => OK
Preposition: 38.0 55.5748502994 68% => OK
Nominalization: 17.0 16.3942115768 104% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1965.0 2260.96107784 87% => OK
No of words: 351.0 441.139720559 80% => More content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.59829059829 5.12650576532 109% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.32839392791 4.56307096286 95% => OK
Word Length SD: 3.12493407046 2.78398813304 112% => OK
Unique words: 197.0 204.123752495 97% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.561253561254 0.468620217663 120% => OK
syllable_count: 594.0 705.55239521 84% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.7 1.59920159681 106% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 9.0 4.96107784431 181% => OK
Article: 4.0 8.76447105788 46% => OK
Subordination: 2.0 2.70958083832 74% => OK
Conjunction: 3.0 1.67365269461 179% => OK
Preposition: 4.0 4.22255489022 95% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 14.0 19.7664670659 71% => 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: 25.0 22.8473053892 109% => OK
Sentence length SD: 49.3670653661 57.8364921388 85% => OK
Chars per sentence: 140.357142857 119.503703932 117% => OK
Words per sentence: 25.0714285714 23.324526521 107% => OK
Discourse Markers: 7.07142857143 5.70786347227 124% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 4.0 5.25449101796 76% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 6.0 8.20758483034 73% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 6.0 6.88822355289 87% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 2.0 4.67664670659 43% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.251745417993 0.218282227539 115% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0826538436865 0.0743258471296 111% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0831665145632 0.0701772020484 119% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.142288324131 0.128457276422 111% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0944413356226 0.0628817314937 150% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 17.5 14.3799401198 122% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 37.64 48.3550499002 78% => OK
smog_index: 11.2 7.1628742515 156% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 14.2 12.197005988 116% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 15.5 12.5979740519 123% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 9.42 8.32208582834 113% => OK
difficult_words: 101.0 98.500998004 103% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 15.0 12.3882235529 121% => OK
gunning_fog: 12.0 11.1389221557 108% => OK
text_standard: 12.0 11.9071856287 101% => OK
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.