The following is a petition to the city council of Centerville:
"Over the past three years, there has been a marked increase in cases of 'sidewalk rage,' similar to the irrational anger drivers experience on the road, but instead among sidewalk walkers. The result is an increase in assaults, property damage, and disruptions of normal pedestrian traffic. In order to address this growing problem, the council must ban cell phone use on sidewalks. Not only do people texting or using their phones slow down pedestrian traffic, but they are also more likely to walk into the road or bump into other walkers. Children are especially vulnerable because they are too short to be easily seen. Middletown passed such a ban and not only have they heard no complaints, but the reported incidents of sidewalk crime has gone down significantly."
In the Petition to the city council of Centerville, it is stated that,a ban should be imposed on cell phone usage while using a side-walk in order to reduce the side walk crimes. This conclusion was arrived based on the issues faced by Middletown and that people using cell phones are bound to slow pedestrian traffic or bump into each other causing accidents. However, brfore this recommendation can be evaluated, three questions must be answeredd.
First of all, Does Middletown have the same number of people using phones in the sidewalk as in Centerville? - Perhaps the population of people using phones in Centreville is considerablly more than Middletown, thus even before a cell phone ban was imposed in Middele town, there was not much complaint recieved. Further, the reduce in sidewalk crimes in Middletown possibly was due to some other cause like arresting the major criminals,who were responsible for all the side-walk crime in the town. If the above scenario hold merit, then the conclusion made in the arguement is weakened.
Secondly, are the assault and property damage in the Centerville sidewalk really due to people using cell phones in sidewalk ? - It is possible that all those crimes mentioned in the argument happening in sidewalks of Centerville is never really caused by the cell phone usage in sidewalk. For instance, it was caused by the recent inflation of the Ville. The people possibly went rouge and wants to show thier opposition towards the government. Or, Maybe it was caused by the homeless people who are staying in the sidewalk. They probably lashed out at the people and their properties in the side walk, as a result of anger due to their perenious condition. If the above examples are true, then the arguement doesnt hold water.
Finally, Are children really vulnerable in the sidewalks with people using cell phones? - It is greately possible that the children are never left to walk alone in a side walk. Maybe there is a parent or guardian always watching them and keeping them close. Also, there is possisbility that as the people are bending to look at theie cellphones while using it, the children are easily visible because they are too short. If the above stands true, then the argument is refuted.
In conclusion, as the arguement stands now, it us considerablye flawed due to its reliance on unwarranted assumptions. If the author is able to answer the three questions and provide more evidence (prehaps in a systematic approach) then it will be possible to eavluate the viability of the recommendation to impose a ban on cell-phone in sidewalks.
Comments
e-rater score report
Attribute Value Ideal
Final score: 4.0 out of 6
Category: Good Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 0 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 17 2
No. of Sentences: 17 15
No. of Words: 436 350
No. of Characters: 2109 1500
No. of Different Words: 208 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.57 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.837 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.66 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 150 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 105 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 84 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 51 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 25.647 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 12.029 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.765 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.323 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.55 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.072 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 70, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Put a space after the comma
Suggestion: , a
...ouncil of Centerville, it is stated that,a ban should be imposed on cell phone usa...
^^
Line 3, column 323, Rule ID: A_INFINITVE[1]
Message: Probably a wrong construction: a/the + infinitive
...s not much complaint recieved. Further, the reduce in sidewalk crimes in Middletown possib...
^^^^^^^^^^
Line 3, column 438, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Put a space after the comma
Suggestion: , who
...cause like arresting the major criminals,who were responsible for all the side-walk ...
^^^^
Line 5, column 711, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: doesn't
...e examples are true, then the arguement doesnt hold water. Finally, Are children re...
^^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, finally, first, however, if, look, may, really, second, secondly, so, then, thus, while, for instance, in conclusion, as a result, first of all
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 30.0 19.6327345309 153% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 4.0 12.9520958084 31% => OK
Conjunction : 8.0 11.1786427146 72% => OK
Relative clauses : 7.0 13.6137724551 51% => More relative clauses wanted.
Pronoun: 24.0 28.8173652695 83% => OK
Preposition: 61.0 55.5748502994 110% => OK
Nominalization: 16.0 16.3942115768 98% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2170.0 2260.96107784 96% => OK
No of words: 434.0 441.139720559 98% => OK
Chars per words: 5.0 5.12650576532 98% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.56428161445 4.56307096286 100% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.76682940706 2.78398813304 99% => OK
Unique words: 217.0 204.123752495 106% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.5 0.468620217663 107% => OK
syllable_count: 690.3 705.55239521 98% => 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: 4.0 8.76447105788 46% => OK
Subordination: 6.0 2.70958083832 221% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 0.0 1.67365269461 0% => OK
Preposition: 2.0 4.22255489022 47% => More preposition wanted as sentence beginning.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 21.0 19.7664670659 106% => OK
Sentence length: 20.0 22.8473053892 88% => OK
Sentence length SD: 49.6488348576 57.8364921388 86% => OK
Chars per sentence: 103.333333333 119.503703932 86% => OK
Words per sentence: 20.6666666667 23.324526521 89% => OK
Discourse Markers: 7.09523809524 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 : 9.0 6.88822355289 131% => 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: 0.0927702934421 0.218282227539 43% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0314362390786 0.0743258471296 42% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0431700203681 0.0701772020484 62% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.0517369002628 0.128457276422 40% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0365192590573 0.0628817314937 58% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 12.5 14.3799401198 87% => 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: 11.72 12.5979740519 93% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.27 8.32208582834 99% => OK
difficult_words: 100.0 98.500998004 102% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 11.0 12.3882235529 89% => OK
gunning_fog: 10.0 11.1389221557 90% => OK
text_standard: 12.0 11.9071856287 101% => 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.