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 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 canceled their advertising contracts with us. Therefore, in order to attract more viewers to our news programs and to avoid losing any further advertising revenues, we should expand our coverage of weather and local news on all our news programs."
The author claims here that Over the past year , the late-night news program has devoted increased time to nation news rather then focusing on weather and local news due to which it has reduced its popularity over a period of time. Stated in this way, the argument reveals several instances of poor reasoning and ill-defined terminology. Also, it fails to mention several key factors, on the basis of which it could be evaluated . To justify this conclusion author states that people complaints have increased and local businesses have cancelled their contract with their television station.
First of all, the argument readily assumes that due to increased coverage of the national news people have stopped watching their channel. This is merely an assumption made without much solid ground. For example if the company would start increasing its time for local news would it satiate the other consumers using their channel? Todays news comprises of a mixture of various attibutes. Its necessary for all viewers to stay tuned to their news channel. It is not stated that people dont want national news to be served . Hence the argument would have been much more convincing if it explicitly stated what the users actually want.
The arguments cites that local businesses that used to advertise during thier late-night news program have cancelled their advertising contract . But its not specifically mentioned due to what reason the contract have been pulled off. This again is a weak and unsupported claim as it does not demonstrate any clear correlation between the companys loss of contract and the increased time of late night national news . There can be many other reasons such as management issues , service issue or any internal disputes due to which the company might have cancelled the contract. If the argument had provided evidence that due to increased time of national news they have cancelled the contract then it would have been a lot clearer to the reader.
Finally, the author cites that if the time devoted for the national news is reduced and time for weather and local news have been restored then it would benefit the company. However, the author’s conclusion in several critical respects, raises skeptical questions. For example, what is the users want something more? What if users dont want the time for national news to be reduced , but for weather and local news to have increased time? Without convincing answers to these questions, the reader is left with the impression that the claims made by the author are more of a wishful thinking rather than substantive evidence.
In conclusion, the author’s argument is unpersuasive as it stands. To bolster it further, the author must provide more concrete evidence, perhaps by way of a reliable survey from more number of audiences and a detailed analysis of what needs to be done. Finally, to better evaluate the survey, it would be necessary to know more information about the actual reason of why people lost interest in this channel.
Comments
Essay evaluation 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: 24 15
No. of Words: 496 350
No. of Characters: 2462 1500
No. of Different Words: 225 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.719 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.964 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.485 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 180 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 143 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 93 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 53 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 20.667 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 8.74 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.583 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.311 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.506 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.076 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 47, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Put a space after the comma, but not before the comma
Suggestion: ,
...thor claims here that Over the past year , the late-night news program has devoted...
^^
Line 1, column 127, Rule ID: RATHER_THEN[1]
Message: Did you mean 'than'? 'than' is used for comparisons, 'then' is an expression of time.
Suggestion: than
...ed increased time to nation news rather then focusing on weather and local news due ...
^^^^
Line 1, column 217, Rule ID: PERIOD_OF_TIME[1]
Message: Use simply 'period'.
Suggestion: period
...ch it has reduced its popularity over a period of time. Stated in this way, the argument revea...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 1, column 429, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Don't put a space before the full stop
Suggestion: .
...the basis of which it could be evaluated . To justify this conclusion author state...
^^
Line 3, column 345, Rule ID: COMPRISES_OF[1]
Message: Did you mean 'comprises' or 'consists of'?
Suggestion: comprises; consists of
...sumers using their channel? Todays news comprises of a mixture of various attibutes. Its nec...
^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 3, column 486, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: don't
...s channel. It is not stated that people dont want national news to be served . Hence...
^^^^
Line 3, column 522, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Don't put a space before the full stop
Suggestion: .
...ple dont want national news to be served . Hence the argument would have been much...
^^
Line 3, column 525, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: Hence,
... dont want national news to be served . Hence the argument would have been much more ...
^^^^^
Line 5, column 15, Rule ID: AGREEMENT_SENT_START[1]
Message: You should probably use 'cite'.
Suggestion: cite
...e users actually want. The arguments cites that local businesses that used to adve...
^^^^^
Line 5, column 144, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Don't put a space before the full stop
Suggestion: .
...ave cancelled their advertising contract . But its not specifically mentioned due ...
^^
Line 5, column 416, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Don't put a space before the full stop
Suggestion: .
...creased time of late night national news . There can be many other reasons such as...
^^
Line 5, column 476, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Put a space after the comma, but not before the comma
Suggestion: ,
... other reasons such as management issues , service issue or any internal disputes ...
^^
Line 5, column 578, Rule ID: SENTENCE_FRAGMENT[1]
Message: “If” 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.
...pany might have cancelled the contract. If the argument had provided evidence that...
^^
Line 7, column 337, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: don't
...sers want something more? What if users dont want the time for national news to be r...
^^^^
Line 7, column 387, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Put a space after the comma, but not before the comma
Suggestion: ,
...the time for national news to be reduced , but for weather and local news to have ...
^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
actually, also, but, finally, first, hence, however, if, so, then, for example, in conclusion, such as, first of all
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 18.0 19.6327345309 92% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 10.0 12.9520958084 77% => OK
Conjunction : 12.0 11.1786427146 107% => OK
Relative clauses : 12.0 13.6137724551 88% => OK
Pronoun: 38.0 28.8173652695 132% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 55.0 55.5748502994 99% => OK
Nominalization: 14.0 16.3942115768 85% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2531.0 2260.96107784 112% => OK
No of words: 496.0 441.139720559 112% => OK
Chars per words: 5.10282258065 5.12650576532 100% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.71922212354 4.56307096286 103% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.60828777262 2.78398813304 94% => OK
Unique words: 230.0 204.123752495 113% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.463709677419 0.468620217663 99% => OK
syllable_count: 785.7 705.55239521 111% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.59920159681 100% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 6.0 4.96107784431 121% => OK
Article: 10.0 8.76447105788 114% => OK
Subordination: 1.0 2.70958083832 37% => OK
Conjunction: 2.0 1.67365269461 119% => OK
Preposition: 6.0 4.22255489022 142% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 24.0 19.7664670659 121% => OK
Sentence length: 20.0 22.8473053892 88% => OK
Sentence length SD: 49.1355833949 57.8364921388 85% => OK
Chars per sentence: 105.458333333 119.503703932 88% => OK
Words per sentence: 20.6666666667 23.324526521 89% => OK
Discourse Markers: 4.83333333333 5.70786347227 85% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 15.0 5.25449101796 285% => Less language errors wanted.
Sentences with positive sentiment : 8.0 8.20758483034 97% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 12.0 6.88822355289 174% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 4.0 4.67664670659 86% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.337472338075 0.218282227539 155% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.100366986129 0.0743258471296 135% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.117341600766 0.0701772020484 167% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.200237117901 0.128457276422 156% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.1051267788 0.0628817314937 167% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 12.9 14.3799401198 90% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 51.18 48.3550499002 106% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 7.1628742515 43% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 11.1 12.197005988 91% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.3 12.5979740519 98% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.42 8.32208582834 101% => OK
difficult_words: 119.0 98.500998004 121% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 11.0 12.3882235529 89% => 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.