The following opinion was provided in a letter to the editor of a national aeronautics magazine:
“Manned space flight is costly and dangerous. Moreover, the recent success of a series of unmanned space probes and satellites has demonstrated that a great deal of useful information can be gathered without the costs and risks associated with sending men and women into space. Therefore, we should invest our resources in unmanned space flight."
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.
The given arguement in the letter vouches for investments in unmanned space probes and satellites, and lists out various arguements to support its conclusion. However, there are certain fallacies and unwarranted assumptions in the letter that need to be pointed out before a careful consideration of it's conclusions. For example, the 'recent' success of the unmanned probes and satellites do not mention the statisctics and the number of successful lanuches and also the kind of success it achieves. Another patent unwarranted assumption made is that whther these unmanned missions made able to perform the tasks and meet objectives that a manned mission sets out to meet. Lets explore and analyse some of these assumptions in detail.
Firstly, the letter talkes about the recent successes of the unmanned missions, and the great deal of information gathered from them. However, the author of the letter does not elaborate this statement any further, neither does she support it with relevant facts and figures.There is a need to understand the types of success these mission achieve as well as the type of data that they are capable of capturing. It is possible that the objectives of a manned mission - their definition of 'success' and the type of data that they aim to capture - are completely different from those of an unmanned mission, and require rigorous human interference and research that cannot be automated by an unmanned mission. In such a case, an unmanned mission cannot replace its counterpart solely because of the costs and risks involved.
In addition to the type of success, the author also fails to quantify the "recent successes" of the unmanned missions. One can accept the fact that there might have been some recent success in this domain, but investing further into it without a knowlege of the 'depth and breadth of these successes' in the domain just does not seem right. It is possible that the unmanned satellite mission teams have been making some short trips for a shorter duration of time in space, as opposed to manned missions spending months and years on some planet which is certain light-years away. Also it is possible that, there have been only a few recent successes in the unmanned missions,for example,some ten odd successful missions; as opposed to a hundred successful ones by its manned counterpart, which has been operative since long before the idea of sending robots into space was conceived. In such a case, it is quite clear that a possiblity of unmanned mission being in its nascent staged of development exists, and thus still requires to go a long way before it can replace manned missions.
Also an important assumption here is that the further investement in umanned mission would not incur as much costs as manned missions do. It is possible that, technological advancements make automation a much more costly process than manned missions. Also, not knowing the ulterior motives of the author of the letter is a fallacy. It is very well possible that the author is a official of the unammned satellite department looking to gather funds, through advertising the cons of the manned missions in a well-known magazine.
Thus it is important for facts, a
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: 19 15
No. of Words: 534 350
No. of Characters: 2622 1500
No. of Different Words: 237 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.807 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.91 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.636 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 203 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 157 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 97 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 54 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 28.105 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 12.748 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.632 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.34 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.56 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.123 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 672, Rule ID: LETS_LET[1]
Message: Did you mean 'Let's'?
Suggestion: Let's
...that a manned mission sets out to meet. Lets explore and analyse some of these assum...
^^^^
Line 5, column 276, Rule ID: SENTENCE_WHITESPACE
Message: Add a space between sentences
Suggestion: There
...port it with relevant facts and figures.There is a need to understand the types of su...
^^^^^
Line 5, column 327, Rule ID: THIS_NNS[2]
Message: Did you mean 'this mission' or 'these missions'?
Suggestion: this mission; these missions
...need to understand the types of success these mission achieve as well as the type of data tha...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 9, column 588, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: Also,
...anet which is certain light-years away. Also it is possible that, there have been on...
^^^^
Line 9, column 682, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Put a space after the comma
Suggestion: , for
...ecent successes in the unmanned missions,for example,some ten odd successful mission...
^^^^
Line 9, column 694, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Put a space after the comma
Suggestion: , some
...ses in the unmanned missions,for example,some ten odd successful missions; as opposed...
^^^^^
Line 9, column 1039, Rule ID: ALLOW_TO[1]
Message: Did you mean 'going', 'gonna'? Or maybe you should add a pronoun? In active voice, 'require' + 'to' takes an object, usually a pronoun.
Suggestion: going; gonna
...lopment exists, and thus still requires to go a long way before it can replace manned...
^^^^^
Line 15, column 1, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: Also,
...it can replace manned missions. Also an important assumption here is that th...
^^^^
Line 15, column 105, Rule ID: MUCH_COUNTABLE[1]
Message: Use 'many' with countable nouns.
Suggestion: many
...t in umanned mission would not incur as much costs as manned missions do. It is poss...
^^^^
Line 15, column 377, 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
...s very well possible that the author is a official of the unammned satellite depa...
^
Line 19, column 1, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: Thus,
...missions in a well-known magazine. Thus it is important for facts, a
^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, but, first, firstly, however, if, look, so, still, thus, well, for example, in addition, kind of, as well as
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 24.0 19.6327345309 122% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 8.0 12.9520958084 62% => OK
Conjunction : 18.0 11.1786427146 161% => OK
Relative clauses : 16.0 13.6137724551 118% => OK
Pronoun: 42.0 28.8173652695 146% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 71.0 55.5748502994 128% => OK
Nominalization: 15.0 16.3942115768 91% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2704.0 2260.96107784 120% => OK
No of words: 531.0 441.139720559 120% => OK
Chars per words: 5.0922787194 5.12650576532 99% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.80035803286 4.56307096286 105% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.80368620634 2.78398813304 101% => OK
Unique words: 250.0 204.123752495 122% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.470809792844 0.468620217663 100% => OK
syllable_count: 839.7 705.55239521 119% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.59920159681 100% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 5.0 4.96107784431 101% => OK
Article: 6.0 8.76447105788 68% => OK
Subordination: 2.0 2.70958083832 74% => OK
Conjunction: 5.0 1.67365269461 299% => Less conjunction wanted as sentence beginning.
Preposition: 5.0 4.22255489022 118% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 19.0 19.7664670659 96% => OK
Sentence length: 27.0 22.8473053892 118% => OK
Sentence length SD: 73.5609118774 57.8364921388 127% => OK
Chars per sentence: 142.315789474 119.503703932 119% => OK
Words per sentence: 27.9473684211 23.324526521 120% => OK
Discourse Markers: 6.0 5.70786347227 105% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 11.0 5.25449101796 209% => Less language errors wanted.
Sentences with positive sentiment : 14.0 8.20758483034 171% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 2.0 6.88822355289 29% => More negative sentences wanted.
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 3.0 4.67664670659 64% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.219981395394 0.218282227539 101% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0718459286245 0.0743258471296 97% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0510330289663 0.0701772020484 73% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.10956895513 0.128457276422 85% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0615300476296 0.0628817314937 98% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 16.5 14.3799401198 115% => 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: 12.54 12.5979740519 100% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.6 8.32208582834 103% => OK
difficult_words: 122.0 98.500998004 124% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 14.0 12.3882235529 113% => OK
gunning_fog: 12.8 11.1389221557 115% => OK
text_standard: 14.0 11.9071856287 118% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
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.