'The following is a memorandum from the business manager of a television station.
“Over the past year, our late-night news program has devoted increased time to national news and less time to weather and local news. During this time period, most of the complaints received from viewers were concerned with our station’s coverage of weather and local news. In addition, local businesses that used to advertise during our late-night news program have just canceled their advertising contracts with us. Therefore, in order to attract more viewers to the program and to avoid losing any further advertising revenues, we should restore the time devoted to weather and local news to its former level.”
In the argument, it is concluded that in order to attract more viewers and avoid losing any more advertising revenue, the time devoted to weather and local news be restored and brought to its former level. This conclusion is based on complaints from viewers as well as cancellation of advertising contracts by many companies. However, before this conclusion is properly evaluated, three evidences must be provided to substantiate the recommendation.
Firstly, it is assumed that the number of complaints from viewers were significantly high and it led to an impact on viewership of the late night news program. It is possible that the number of complaints are very low in number. For instance, what if there are only 2-3 complaints for the stations coverage and other complaints were for some another program? Therefore, a study must be provided where in the number of complaints are quantified and details regarding the attributes of the complaint be provided. If the above scenario is true and until a research study is not provided the conclusion is flawed.
Secondly, it is assumed that the complaints are for coverage of weather and local news which result in reduction of viewers. Perhaps it is possible that the complaints are for the quality of whether news or the validity of local news. Perhaps, the viewers are not interested in the news channel and it might be the reason for reduction in viewership. It is possible that coverage of whether and local news does not interest the viewers and the viewers are complaining & asking for complete removal of the the program from the news channel.
Thirdly, it is assumed that advertising contract termination is the only factor that has led to the decrease in viewership. Perhaps, it is likely that the local business companies are not satisfied but he contract with the news channel. Consequently, they have found a new alternative for there companies advertisement. Moreover, the arguer assumes that by restoring the time devoted to weather and local news will for sure bring in revenues and increase in viewers. Perhaps, the opposite might happen. Hence, If the above scenario is true the conclusion doesn't hold water.
In conclusion, the argument, as it stand now, is considerably flawed due to its reliance on several unwarranted assumptions. If the author is able to provided more evidence (perhaps in form of a systematic research study), then it will be possible to fully evaluated the feasibility of the proposed recommendation of reduction of work hours.
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: 20 15
No. of Words: 415 350
No. of Characters: 2059 1500
No. of Different Words: 177 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.513 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.961 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.838 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 149 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 131 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 90 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 53 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 20.75 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 7.687 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.7 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.321 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.546 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.097 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 3, column 214, Rule ID: ADJECTIVE_IN_ATTRIBUTE[1]
Message: A more concise phrase may lose no meaning and sound more powerful.
Suggestion: low
...e that the number of compaints are very low in number. For instance, what if there are only 2...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 5, column 505, Rule ID: ENGLISH_WORD_REPEAT_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a word
Suggestion: the
...aining & asking for complete removal of the the program from the news channel. Thir...
^^^^^^^^
Line 5, column 505, Rule ID: DT_DT[1]
Message: Maybe you need to remove one determiner so that only 'the' or 'the' is left.
Suggestion: the; the
...aining & asking for complete removal of the the program from the news channel. Thir...
^^^^^^^^
Line 5, column 508, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...ing & asking for complete removal of the the program from the news channel. T...
^^
Line 7, column 206, Rule ID: HE_VERB_AGR[1]
Message: The pronoun 'he' must be used with a third-person verb: 'contracts'.
Suggestion: contracts
...ness companies are not satisfied byt he contract with the news channel. Consequently, th...
^^^^^^^^
Line 7, column 556, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: doesn't
...e above scenario is true the conclusion doesnt hold water. In conclusion, the argu...
^^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
but, consequently, first, firstly, hence, however, if, moreover, regarding, second, secondly, so, then, therefore, third, thirdly, well, for instance, in conclusion, as well as
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 33.0 19.6327345309 168% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 6.0 12.9520958084 46% => OK
Conjunction : 14.0 11.1786427146 125% => OK
Relative clauses : 12.0 13.6137724551 88% => OK
Pronoun: 28.0 28.8173652695 97% => OK
Preposition: 53.0 55.5748502994 95% => OK
Nominalization: 13.0 16.3942115768 79% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2117.0 2260.96107784 94% => OK
No of words: 414.0 441.139720559 94% => More content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.11352657005 5.12650576532 100% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.51076378781 4.56307096286 99% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.94379931722 2.78398813304 106% => OK
Unique words: 190.0 204.123752495 93% => More unique words wanted.
Unique words percentage: 0.458937198068 0.468620217663 98% => OK
syllable_count: 661.5 705.55239521 94% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.59920159681 100% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 9.0 4.96107784431 181% => OK
Article: 6.0 8.76447105788 68% => OK
Subordination: 5.0 2.70958083832 185% => OK
Conjunction: 0.0 1.67365269461 0% => OK
Preposition: 3.0 4.22255489022 71% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 20.0 19.7664670659 101% => OK
Sentence length: 20.0 22.8473053892 88% => OK
Sentence length SD: 43.8785539871 57.8364921388 76% => OK
Chars per sentence: 105.85 119.503703932 89% => OK
Words per sentence: 20.7 23.324526521 89% => OK
Discourse Markers: 8.8 5.70786347227 154% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 6.0 5.25449101796 114% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 3.0 8.20758483034 37% => More positive sentences wanted.
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: 0.227574855006 0.218282227539 104% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0683817770142 0.0743258471296 92% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0818597197308 0.0701772020484 117% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.118937656833 0.128457276422 93% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.077296406063 0.0628817314937 123% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 13.0 14.3799401198 90% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 51.18 48.3550499002 106% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.1628742515 123% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 11.1 12.197005988 91% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.36 12.5979740519 98% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.4 8.32208582834 101% => OK
difficult_words: 99.0 98.500998004 101% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 14.5 12.3882235529 117% => OK
gunning_fog: 10.0 11.1389221557 90% => OK
text_standard: 13.0 11.9071856287 109% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Rates: 58.33 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 3.5 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.