In surveys Mason City residents rank water sports (swimming, boating and fishing) among their favorite recreational activities. The Mason River flowing through the city is rarely used for these pursuits, however, and the city park department devotes little of its budget to maintaining riverside recreational facilities. For years there have been complaints from residents about the quality of the river's water and the river's smell. In response, the state has recently announced plans to clean up Mason River. Use of the river for water sports is therefore sure to increase. The city government should for that reason devote more money in this year's budget to riverside recreational facilities.
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 the assumptions and what the implications are if the assumptions prove unwarranted.
Author’s conclusion that some big chunk of money should be set aside for riverside recreational facilities seems plausible initially as he gives the evidence of surveys and states some ongoing problem with river. However, there are some of unstated assumptions in the argument and some discrepancy in the evidence. Therefore its not a wise choice to take any decision regarding devoting budget without scrutinizing further.
Major problem of surveys is that, without knowing much details about the surveys, its very difficult to rely on the results of the survey. Some details include how many people participated the survey? purpose of the survey and type of questions. If there are 1000 residents in Mason city, and survey was conducted in a holiday season and only 400 residents participated, then survey results are kind of incomplete as it records the opinion of only less than half of the people. More than half of the resident’s opinion are not taken into consideration which makes the survey incomplete. Even though water sports take the top spot in survey, its not mentioned in the survey that all residents use Mason river for the water sports. People often use swimming pools for swimming and fishing can be done in lakes also, so the question types also has an important role. If the more details are provided about the survey, credibility of the survey can be proved.
Author mentions that, there are already existing facilities which are not being used because of lack of maintenance. If residents love waters ports so much, they should have been using these facilities and if facilities are being used well , they should be in good condition. Also there is no evidence that city park department is investing very small amount of money because people are not using it. Also the argument lacks direct proof about why these facilities are not being used. Getting to know about why residents are not using these facilities helps to decide on budget, which if author provides makes his/her argument more reasonable.
However, author implies that the smelly river and reduced water quality is the reason behind recreation facilities not being used. But its nowhere mentioned by the residents in survey or complaint that because of smelly river they are not using recreation facilities. On the other hand we don’t know the cause for the filthy river , is it because of natural causes or from human intervention. Also we are not sure if the state is definitely going to spend some amount of money. Even if river cleaning is made there is no guarantee that river water will be clean and fresh and can be used for many activities. If there is a strong evidence that suggests smelly river is the root cause why residents are not using river for recreation purpose and river cleaning process ensures that river will be clean and fresh after the process is completed.
In conclusion the argument has some loopholes. There are some unstated and stated assumptions which author makes without solid proof. If those assumptions are proved to be wrong , the argument of the author that, more money should be appropriated to riverside facilities does not make any sense. Thus the city government should perform an exhaustive research before investing more money on recreational facilities.
Comments
e-rater score 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: 25 15
No. of Words: 548 350
No. of Characters: 2689 1500
No. of Different Words: 234 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.838 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.907 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.5 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 180 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 130 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 89 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 64 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 21.92 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 7.792 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.72 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.308 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.484 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.137 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 4 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 316, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: Therefore,
...t and some discrepancy in the evidence. Therefore its not a wise choice to take any deci...
^^^^^^^^^
Line 1, column 347, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...vidence. Therefore its not a wise choice to take any decision regarding devoting ...
^^
Line 2, column 34, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...ther. Major problem of surveys is that, without knowing much details about the s...
^^
Line 2, column 52, Rule ID: MUCH_COUNTABLE[1]
Message: Use 'many' with countable nouns.
Suggestion: many
...em of surveys is that, without knowing much details about the surveys, its very dif...
^^^^
Line 2, column 202, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: Purpose
...ow many people participated the survey? purpose of the survey and type of questions. ...
^^^^^^^
Line 2, column 227, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...ed the survey? purpose of the survey and type of questions. If there are 1000 re...
^^
Line 2, column 236, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...rvey? purpose of the survey and type of questions. If there are 1000 residents i...
^^
Line 2, column 349, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...nducted in a holiday season and only 400 residents participated, then survey resu...
^^
Line 2, column 514, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...people. More than half of the resident’s opinion are not taken into consideration...
^^
Line 4, column 22, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
... can be proved. Author mentions that, there are already existing facilities wh...
^^
Line 4, column 241, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Put a space after the comma, but not before the comma
Suggestion: ,
...es and if facilities are being used well , they should be in good condition. Also ...
^^
Line 4, column 278, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: Also,
...ell , they should be in good condition. Also there is no evidence that city park dep...
^^^^
Line 4, column 403, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: Also,
... money because people are not using it. Also the argument lacks direct proof about w...
^^^^
Line 4, column 587, Rule ID: IF_IS[2]
Message: Did you mean 'is'?
Suggestion: is
...lities helps to decide on budget, which if author provides makes his/her argument ...
^^
Line 6, column 9, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...er argument more reasonable. However, author implies that the smelly river an...
^^
Line 6, column 30, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...onable. However, author implies that the smelly river and reduced water quali...
^^
Line 6, column 199, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
... by the residents in survey or complaint that because of smelly river they are no...
^^
Line 6, column 334, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Put a space after the comma, but not before the comma
Suggestion: ,
...on’t know the cause for the filthy river , is it because of natural causes or from...
^^
Line 6, column 397, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: Also,
...ural causes or from human intervention. Also we are not sure if the state is definit...
^^^^
Line 6, column 715, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...e root cause why residents are not using river for recreation purpose and river ...
^^
Line 6, column 749, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
... using river for recreation purpose and river cleaning process ensures that rive...
^^
Line 8, column 122, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...d assumptions which author makes without solid proof. If those assumptions are p...
^^
Line 8, column 161, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...t solid proof. If those assumptions are proved to be wrong , the argument of the...
^^
Line 8, column 181, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Put a space after the comma, but not before the comma
Suggestion: ,
...hose assumptions are proved to be wrong , the argument of the author that, more m...
^^
Line 8, column 300, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: Thus,
...ide facilities does not make any sense. Thus the city government should perform an e...
^^^^
Line 8, column 340, Rule ID: A_UNCOUNTABLE[3]
Message: Uncountable nouns are usually not used with an indefinite article. Use simply 'exhaustive research'.
Suggestion: exhaustive research
...Thus the city government should perform an exhaustive research before investing more money on recreat...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 8, column 369, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...ld perform an exhaustive research before investing more money on recreational fac...
^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, but, however, if, regarding, so, then, therefore, thus, well, in conclusion, kind of, on the other hand
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 42.0 19.6327345309 214% => Less to be verbs wanted.
Auxiliary verbs: 10.0 12.9520958084 77% => OK
Conjunction : 16.0 11.1786427146 143% => OK
Relative clauses : 15.0 13.6137724551 110% => OK
Pronoun: 30.0 28.8173652695 104% => OK
Preposition: 55.0 55.5748502994 99% => OK
Nominalization: 19.0 16.3942115768 116% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2755.0 2260.96107784 122% => OK
No of words: 546.0 441.139720559 124% => OK
Chars per words: 5.04578754579 5.12650576532 98% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.83390555256 4.56307096286 106% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.58689932839 2.78398813304 93% => OK
Unique words: 245.0 204.123752495 120% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.448717948718 0.468620217663 96% => OK
syllable_count: 883.8 705.55239521 125% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.59920159681 100% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 4.0 4.96107784431 81% => OK
Article: 1.0 8.76447105788 11% => OK
Subordination: 7.0 2.70958083832 258% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 2.0 1.67365269461 119% => OK
Preposition: 3.0 4.22255489022 71% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 26.0 19.7664670659 132% => OK
Sentence length: 21.0 22.8473053892 92% => OK
Sentence length SD: 47.8414695951 57.8364921388 83% => OK
Chars per sentence: 105.961538462 119.503703932 89% => OK
Words per sentence: 21.0 23.324526521 90% => OK
Discourse Markers: 4.19230769231 5.70786347227 73% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 27.0 5.25449101796 514% => Less language errors wanted.
Sentences with positive sentiment : 10.0 8.20758483034 122% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 11.0 6.88822355289 160% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 5.0 4.67664670659 107% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.222452198796 0.218282227539 102% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0618922487346 0.0743258471296 83% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0544134470042 0.0701772020484 78% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.111119294927 0.128457276422 87% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0549165455953 0.0628817314937 87% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 12.9 14.3799401198 90% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 50.16 48.3550499002 104% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 7.1628742515 43% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 11.5 12.197005988 94% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.01 12.5979740519 95% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 7.89 8.32208582834 95% => OK
difficult_words: 111.0 98.500998004 113% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 11.0 12.3882235529 89% => OK
gunning_fog: 10.4 11.1389221557 93% => OK
text_standard: 13.0 11.9071856287 109% => OK
What are above readability scores?
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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.