The following is a letter to the editor of an environmental magazine In 1975 a wildlife census found that there were seven species of amphibians in Xanadu National Park with abundant numbers of each species However in 2002 only four species of amphibians | TOEFL IELTS GMAT GRE SAT ACT PTE ESL

Essay topics:

The following is a letter to the editor of an environmental magazine.

"In 1975 a wildlife census found that there were seven species of amphibians in Xanadu National Park, with abundant numbers of each species. However, in 2002 only four species of amphibians were observed in the park, and the numbers of each species were drastically reduced. There has been a substantial decline in the numbers of amphibians worldwide, and global pollution of water and air is clearly implicated. The decline of amphibians in Xanadu National Park, however, almost certainly has a different cause: in 1975, trout — which are known to eat amphibian eggs — were introduced into the park."

Write a response in which you discuss what specific evidence is needed to evaluate the argument and explain how the evidence would weaken or strengthen the argument.

The author states that there has been a significant decrease in the amphibians population in Xanadu National Park from 1975 to 2002 and that the decrease in the population is due to introduction of trout - a specie that feeds on ampibian eggs. Though the author has specifed that the trouts are responsible for the decrease in the amphibian population, the author fails to provide detaile evidences to support the claim. Further, the author claims that the amphibians population has reduced throughout the world due to pollution of global waters. Though a plausible reason at first as it may seem, upon deliberation one will realize that one would require to put forth the evidences that would bolster the author's claim.

The author should first specify the details of how the ampibians were counted to arrive at the conclusion that the amphibians population has decreased in Xanadu National Park. Specifying the detailed approach that has been followed to estimate the amphibians population would help reader evaluate the strength of the author's claim. Details regarding the method that was used in 1975 and 2002 would help evaluate the validity of the methods and subsequently evaluate the author's conclusions. If one happens to find that a any of the method is faulty, then it would weaken the argument and the author is obligated to redress the conclusion.

Secondly, the author states that the decrease in the amphibians population in the Xanadu National Park is due to introduction of trout in the Park. This resolute conclusion seems to be vague as the author doesn't provide more details regarding the trout theory. The details like when was it first introduced in the Park, why was it inroduced, how has the population of the trout varied across the period, etc would help one evaluate the argument in important ways. If the answers to these questions contradicts the unstatd assumptions that the author had posited, then the argument is definitly weakened.

Finally, the author seem to blatantly express that the global pollution of water and air is the reason for decrease in amphibian population worldwide without providing any specific evidence to bolster the claims. The argument would have been tenable had the author mentioned what kind of pollutants are responsible for this, does the pollutants have a direct impact or a secondary impact on the amphibians, to what extent of area does the world "worldwide" implies, etc. Without answers to these questions, one would be disaffected by the claims that the author makes in the argument. And depending on the evidences found in pursuit of these questions, the reader will be capable of evaluating the argument.

All in all, there seems to be many apprehensions that one would have to confront while reading the argument as the author doesn't mention the required evidences as discussed to help evaluate the argument coherently.

Votes

Essay Categories

GMAT/GRE Argument Task

Comments

Essay evaluations by e-grader

Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 69, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[1]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'amphibians'' or 'amphibian's'?
Suggestion: amphibians'; amphibian's
... has been a significant decrease in the amphibians population in Xanadu National Park from...
^^^^^^^^^^
Line 1, column 458, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[1]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'amphibians'' or 'amphibian's'?
Suggestion: amphibians'; amphibian's
...im. Further, the author claims that the amphibians population has reduced throughout the w...
^^^^^^^^^^
Line 1, column 657, Rule ID: ALLOW_TO[1]
Message: Did you mean 'putting'? Or maybe you should add a pronoun? In active voice, 'require' + 'to' takes an object, usually a pronoun.
Suggestion: putting
...one will realize that one would require to put forth the evidences that would bolster ...
^^^^^^
Line 3, column 116, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[1]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'amphibians'' or 'amphibian's'?
Suggestion: amphibians'; amphibian's
...ed to arrive at the conclusion that the amphibians population has decreased in Xanadu Nati...
^^^^^^^^^^
Line 3, column 249, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[1]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'amphibians'' or 'amphibian's'?
Suggestion: amphibians'; amphibian's
... that has been followed to estimate the amphibians population would help reader evaluate t...
^^^^^^^^^^
Line 3, column 520, Rule ID: EN_A_VS_AN
Message: Use 'an' instead of 'a' if the following word starts with a vowel sound, e.g. 'an article', 'an hour'
Suggestion: an
...onclusions. If one happens to find that a any of the method is faulty, then it wo...
^
Line 5, column 54, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[1]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'amphibians'' or 'amphibian's'?
Suggestion: amphibians'; amphibian's
... author states that the decrease in the amphibians population in the Xanadu National Park ...
^^^^^^^^^^
Line 5, column 206, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: doesn't
...clusion seems to be vague as the author doesnt provide more details regarding the trou...
^^^^^^
Line 5, column 448, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
... would help one evaluate the argument in important ways. If the answers to these ...
^^
Line 9, column 123, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: doesn't
...hile reading the argument as the author doesnt mention the required evidences as discu...
^^^^^^

Transition Words or Phrases used:
finally, first, if, may, regarding, second, secondly, so, then, while, kind of

Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments

Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 19.0 19.6327345309 97% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 13.0 12.9520958084 100% => OK
Conjunction : 7.0 11.1786427146 63% => OK
Relative clauses : 17.0 13.6137724551 125% => OK
Pronoun: 25.0 28.8173652695 87% => OK
Preposition: 63.0 55.5748502994 113% => OK
Nominalization: 24.0 16.3942115768 146% => OK

Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2441.0 2260.96107784 108% => OK
No of words: 473.0 441.139720559 107% => OK
Chars per words: 5.16067653277 5.12650576532 101% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.66353547975 4.56307096286 102% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.81761855922 2.78398813304 101% => OK
Unique words: 194.0 204.123752495 95% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.410147991543 0.468620217663 88% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 741.6 705.55239521 105% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.59920159681 100% => OK

A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 1.0 4.96107784431 20% => OK
Article: 9.0 8.76447105788 103% => OK
Subordination: 4.0 2.70958083832 148% => OK
Conjunction: 1.0 1.67365269461 60% => OK
Preposition: 3.0 4.22255489022 71% => OK

Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 17.0 19.7664670659 86% => OK
Sentence length: 27.0 22.8473053892 118% => OK
Sentence length SD: 44.0068412423 57.8364921388 76% => OK
Chars per sentence: 143.588235294 119.503703932 120% => OK
Words per sentence: 27.8235294118 23.324526521 119% => OK
Discourse Markers: 4.58823529412 5.70786347227 80% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 10.0 5.25449101796 190% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 7.0 8.20758483034 85% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 5.0 6.88822355289 73% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 5.0 4.67664670659 107% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?

Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.105492015986 0.218282227539 48% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0458167896614 0.0743258471296 62% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0606036906479 0.0701772020484 86% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.0630953119579 0.128457276422 49% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0460522708912 0.0628817314937 73% => OK

Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 16.8 14.3799401198 117% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 44.07 48.3550499002 91% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.1628742515 123% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 13.8 12.197005988 113% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.94 12.5979740519 103% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.35 8.32208582834 100% => OK
difficult_words: 101.0 98.500998004 103% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 15.0 12.3882235529 121% => OK
gunning_fog: 12.8 11.1389221557 115% => OK
text_standard: 13.0 11.9071856287 109% => 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.

Essay evaluations by e-grader

Transition Words or Phrases used:
finally, first, if, may, regarding, second, secondly, so, then, while, kind of

Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments