A recent study reported that pet owners have longer, healthier lives on average than do people who own no pets. Specifically, dog owners tend to have a lower incidence of heart disease. In light of these findings, Sherwood Hospital should form a partnership with Sherwood Animal Shelter to institute an adopt-a-dog program. The program would encourage dog ownership for patients recovering from heart disease, which should reduce these patients' chance of experiencing continuing heart problems and also reduce their need for ongoing treatment. As a further benefit, the publicity about the program would encourage more people to adopt pets from the shelter. And that will reduce the incidence of heart disease in the general population.
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.
Commonly known to many is the scientific fact that periods of interaction and play with pet dogs show correlation with decreased levels of blood pressure, which is a sign of relief and relaxation within the bigger picture of stress and bustle often associated with modern urban life. We assume that several of these physical measures, such as aforementioned blood pressure, are taken into account when the statement “pet owners have longer, healthier lives on average than do people who own no pets” is made.
Additionally, dogs are singled out as prime representative of pets for lower incidences of heart disease in its owners. Logically speaking, decreased levels in blood pressure for owners could attribute to this statistic, as we closely link blood pressure and related indicators to the health of a human heart. However, one cannot simply ignore the unstated assumption that individuals or even families who seek to own a dog of their own may lead more active lifestyles than their counterparts who choose not to. For example, families with larger spaces such as a backyard may be more inclined to adopt a dog than families who live in apartments. Individuals may then have more space to walk or run on a daily basis, or may have chosen to adopt a dog to match their active lifestyles rather than a cat which is relatively less energetic.
Hence the dog is not a panacea for all heart problems, and cannot simply reduce chances of owners experiencing continuing heart problems as mentioned. Opponents may argue that the presence of a happy, affectionate dog will improve the mood of patients and lead to better treatment results, to which I acknowledge. However, the author assumes that lower incidence of disease encapsulates a lower need for ongoing treatment. One angle is prevention, and the other is treatment, both of which cannot be confounded with each other.
Lastly, the adopting programme may not have its intended results as correlation between pet ownership and longer, healthier lives does not equate causation. Other factors need to be considered for incidence of heart disease in the general population to decrease as intended.
Comments
Essay evaluations by e-grader
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 6, column 2, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: Hence,
...hich is relatively less energetic. Hence the dog is not a panacea for all heart ...
^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
but, hence, however, if, lastly, may, so, then, for example, such as
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 12.0 19.6327345309 61% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 13.0 12.9520958084 100% => OK
Conjunction : 11.0 11.1786427146 98% => OK
Relative clauses : 14.0 13.6137724551 103% => OK
Pronoun: 15.0 28.8173652695 52% => OK
Preposition: 43.0 55.5748502994 77% => OK
Nominalization: 15.0 16.3942115768 91% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1819.0 2260.96107784 80% => OK
No of words: 354.0 441.139720559 80% => More content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.1384180791 5.12650576532 100% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.33761313653 4.56307096286 95% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.81973688208 2.78398813304 101% => OK
Unique words: 197.0 204.123752495 97% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.556497175141 0.468620217663 119% => OK
syllable_count: 571.5 705.55239521 81% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.59920159681 100% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 1.0 4.96107784431 20% => OK
Article: 2.0 8.76447105788 23% => OK
Subordination: 1.0 2.70958083832 37% => OK
Conjunction: 3.0 1.67365269461 179% => OK
Preposition: 1.0 4.22255489022 24% => More preposition wanted as sentence beginning.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 13.0 19.7664670659 66% => Need more sentences. Double check the format of sentences, make sure there is a space between two sentences, or have enough periods. And also check the lengths of sentences, maybe they are too long.
Sentence length: 27.0 22.8473053892 118% => OK
Sentence length SD: 50.4724425367 57.8364921388 87% => OK
Chars per sentence: 139.923076923 119.503703932 117% => OK
Words per sentence: 27.2307692308 23.324526521 117% => OK
Discourse Markers: 5.23076923077 5.70786347227 92% => OK
Paragraphs: 4.0 5.15768463074 78% => More paragraphs wanted.
Language errors: 1.0 5.25449101796 19% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 5.0 8.20758483034 61% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 5.0 6.88822355289 73% => OK
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: 0.293182078107 0.218282227539 134% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.102340510103 0.0743258471296 138% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0886444721983 0.0701772020484 126% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.175502624704 0.128457276422 137% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.054103461644 0.0628817314937 86% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 16.4 14.3799401198 114% => 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: 12.83 12.5979740519 102% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 9.48 8.32208582834 114% => OK
difficult_words: 101.0 98.500998004 103% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 19.5 12.3882235529 157% => OK
gunning_fog: 12.8 11.1389221557 115% => OK
text_standard: 13.0 11.9071856287 109% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Rates: 66.67 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 4.0 Out of 6
---------------------
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.
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 6, column 2, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: Hence,
...hich is relatively less energetic. Hence the dog is not a panacea for all heart ...
^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
but, hence, however, if, lastly, may, so, then, for example, such as
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 12.0 19.6327345309 61% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 13.0 12.9520958084 100% => OK
Conjunction : 11.0 11.1786427146 98% => OK
Relative clauses : 14.0 13.6137724551 103% => OK
Pronoun: 15.0 28.8173652695 52% => OK
Preposition: 43.0 55.5748502994 77% => OK
Nominalization: 15.0 16.3942115768 91% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1819.0 2260.96107784 80% => OK
No of words: 354.0 441.139720559 80% => More content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.1384180791 5.12650576532 100% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.33761313653 4.56307096286 95% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.81973688208 2.78398813304 101% => OK
Unique words: 197.0 204.123752495 97% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.556497175141 0.468620217663 119% => OK
syllable_count: 571.5 705.55239521 81% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.59920159681 100% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 1.0 4.96107784431 20% => OK
Article: 2.0 8.76447105788 23% => OK
Subordination: 1.0 2.70958083832 37% => OK
Conjunction: 3.0 1.67365269461 179% => OK
Preposition: 1.0 4.22255489022 24% => More preposition wanted as sentence beginning.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 13.0 19.7664670659 66% => Need more sentences. Double check the format of sentences, make sure there is a space between two sentences, or have enough periods. And also check the lengths of sentences, maybe they are too long.
Sentence length: 27.0 22.8473053892 118% => OK
Sentence length SD: 50.4724425367 57.8364921388 87% => OK
Chars per sentence: 139.923076923 119.503703932 117% => OK
Words per sentence: 27.2307692308 23.324526521 117% => OK
Discourse Markers: 5.23076923077 5.70786347227 92% => OK
Paragraphs: 4.0 5.15768463074 78% => More paragraphs wanted.
Language errors: 1.0 5.25449101796 19% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 5.0 8.20758483034 61% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 5.0 6.88822355289 73% => OK
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: 0.293182078107 0.218282227539 134% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.102340510103 0.0743258471296 138% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0886444721983 0.0701772020484 126% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.175502624704 0.128457276422 137% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.054103461644 0.0628817314937 86% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 16.4 14.3799401198 114% => 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: 12.83 12.5979740519 102% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 9.48 8.32208582834 114% => OK
difficult_words: 101.0 98.500998004 103% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 19.5 12.3882235529 157% => OK
gunning_fog: 12.8 11.1389221557 115% => OK
text_standard: 13.0 11.9071856287 109% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Rates: 66.67 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 4.0 Out of 6
---------------------
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.