"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."
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.
In the statement, the business manager argues that the television station should expand the coverage of weather and local news in order to attract more viewers and to prevent losing even more advertising revenues. To bolster this, the author cites the complaints from viewers about the station’s coverage and the canceled advertising contracts. however, this argument is tenuous in several aspects.
The manager mentions that last year there were complaints about the reduced time devote to weather and local news. however, there is a hidden assumption that the situation will remain the same this year. it is possible that this year an increasing number of viewers start to have more interests in national news. also the manager unfairly assumes that the opinions received from those viewers are representative for the general population. it is possible that the survey only covered a small population.
it is also stated by the manager that local businesses that used to advertise during the late-night news program have canceled their contracts with the television station. Nevertheless, the manager unreasonably attribute this result to the increased coverage for national news; there might be other factors that caused the advertising contracts to stop. it is possible that the station charge expensively for companies to advertise during the news program time and only offer them a very short advertising time. it is also possible that those business do not want to invest on tv advertising anymore since it didn't improve their sales significantly.
The manager recommends to extend their coverage for weather and local news on all of their news programs. however, the manager is being over-confident and unjustifiably assume that this change will lead to a higher amount of viewers and maintain their revenues gained from advertising contracts. it is possible there are other competing television stations that attract viewers away because their ways of present the local news and weather are more absorbing. Moreover, the manager is making a false analogy that the situation happened for their late-night-news programs is representative for all the other news programs. Perhaps, the viewers of other news program prefer to watch more national news.
In sum, the manager’s statement is logically flawed and the evidence used are also groundless. Before making any suggestions to any changes, the manager should conduct a deep and comprehensive survey about the viewers preference. also, he should consider the possible differences and similarities between all of their news programs.
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: 11 15
No. of Words: 405 350
No. of Characters: 2151 1500
No. of Different Words: 175 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.486 4.7
Average Word Length: 5.311 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.76 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 168 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 137 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 86 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 52 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 36.818 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 25.971 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.727 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.427 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.693 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.165 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 351, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: However
...and the canceled advertising contracts. however, this argument is tenuous in several as...
^^^^^^^
Line 11, column 116, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: However
... time devote to weather and local news. however, there is a hidden assumption that the ...
^^^^^^^
Line 11, column 205, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: It
...tuation will remain the same this year. it is possible that this year an increasin...
^^
Line 11, column 314, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: Also
...o have more interests in national news. also the manager unfairly assumes that the o...
^^^^
Line 11, column 314, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: also,
...o have more interests in national news. also the manager unfairly assumes that the o...
^^^^
Line 11, column 441, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: It
...resentative for the general population. it is possible that the survey only covere...
^^
Line 21, column 1, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: It
...vered a small population. it is also stated by the manager that loca...
^^
Line 21, column 355, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: It
...used the advertising contracts to stop. it is possible that the station charge exp...
^^
Line 21, column 513, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: It
...fer them a very short advertising time. it is also possible that those business do...
^^
Line 21, column 610, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: didn't
...vest on tv advertising anymore since it didnt improve their sales significantly. ...
^^^^^
Line 31, column 13, Rule ID: ADMIT_ENJOY_VB[1]
Message: This verb is used with the gerund form: 'recommends extending'.
Suggestion: recommends extending
...gnificantly. The manager recommends to extend their coverage for weather and local ne...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 31, column 107, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: However
...cal news on all of their news programs. however, the manager is being over-confident an...
^^^^^^^
Line 31, column 297, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: It
...nues gained from advertising contracts. it is possible there are other competing t...
^^
Line 41, column 216, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[2]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'viewers'' or 'viewer's'?
Suggestion: viewers'; viewer's
...deep and comprehensive survey about the viewers preference. also, he should consider th...
^^^^^^^
Line 41, column 236, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: Also
...ve survey about the viewers preference. also, he should consider the possible differ...
^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, but, however, if, moreover, nevertheless, so
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 19.0 19.6327345309 97% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 6.0 12.9520958084 46% => OK
Conjunction : 12.0 11.1786427146 107% => OK
Relative clauses : 14.0 13.6137724551 103% => OK
Pronoun: 39.0 28.8173652695 135% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 42.0 55.5748502994 76% => OK
Nominalization: 14.0 16.3942115768 85% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2253.0 2260.96107784 100% => OK
No of words: 404.0 441.139720559 92% => More content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.57673267327 5.12650576532 109% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.48327461151 4.56307096286 98% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.87224612698 2.78398813304 103% => OK
Unique words: 182.0 204.123752495 89% => More unique words wanted.
Unique words percentage: 0.450495049505 0.468620217663 96% => OK
syllable_count: 691.2 705.55239521 98% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.7 1.59920159681 106% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 8.0 4.96107784431 161% => OK
Article: 10.0 8.76447105788 114% => OK
Subordination: 1.0 2.70958083832 37% => OK
Conjunction: 0.0 1.67365269461 0% => OK
Preposition: 4.0 4.22255489022 95% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 20.0 19.7664670659 101% => OK
Sentence length: 20.0 22.8473053892 88% => OK
Sentence length SD: 42.1346353965 57.8364921388 73% => OK
Chars per sentence: 112.65 119.503703932 94% => OK
Words per sentence: 20.2 23.324526521 87% => OK
Discourse Markers: 2.5 5.70786347227 44% => More transition words/phrases wanted.
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 15.0 5.25449101796 285% => Less language errors wanted.
Sentences with positive sentiment : 5.0 8.20758483034 61% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 6.0 6.88822355289 87% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 9.0 4.67664670659 192% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.353460714108 0.218282227539 162% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.122025258781 0.0743258471296 164% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0909025911362 0.0701772020484 130% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.2072053914 0.128457276422 161% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0855213437038 0.0628817314937 136% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 15.0 14.3799401198 104% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 42.72 48.3550499002 88% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.1628742515 123% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 12.3 12.197005988 101% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 15.08 12.5979740519 120% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.3 8.32208582834 100% => OK
difficult_words: 94.0 98.500998004 95% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 8.0 12.3882235529 65% => OK
gunning_fog: 10.0 11.1389221557 90% => OK
text_standard: 15.0 11.9071856287 126% => 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.