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.
The given argument is flawed for numerous reasons. It assumes that simply cleaning the river can lead the citizens to come and enjoy their recreational activities. It does not tell if the river is actually even fit for supporting recreational activities. We are also not told about the surrounding location of the river and how well accessible it is to the population. Neither are we told if one time cleaning can sustain its cleanliness.
The argument assumes that the river is good for supporting activities as diverse as fishing , swimming etc. It is not given anywhere if the river actually can support such activities. It may be possible that there are no fish in the river, thanks to the bad quality of the river. It may be possible that the river is unpredictable and frequent flooding happens. The waves may be too dangerous sometimes when the dam is opened . All of this endangers life. It is also possible that the climatic conditions in the city are not conducive for such activities. The city may be located in the arctic region where the temperatures are usually below negative.
It is also assumed that the river is well connected to the city . If there is no supporting infrastructure that can easily lead people to the river, why would anyone come ? It is also possible that the particular area is home to numerous gangs and there have been cases of gruesome crimes. Anyone will think twice before coming to such a place. Even if people still want to come ,it is possible that there the roads connecting the river are full of markets and shops due to which traffic jams are a common occurance in that area. In such cases a nearby lake which has a serene environment and is not a hotbed for gangs and criminals will be a better choice for those interested.
It is not given what caused the contamination of water . It is possible that there is a lot of industries near the river that discharge their waste . So ,the water will again become dirty. So , it is possible that the program may find initial success but after sometime , things will come back to the past .Assumption is being made that citizens have enough time and energy to frequently engage in such recreational activities. It is possible that most of the people are engaged in industries which require long working hours . Such people will find it difficult to get some time for recreation. Even if some of the citizens get time to visit the river , it is likely that since they constitute a minority the investments done for the river will only cause government enormous losses .
Due to a lack of clarity in the argument , one can be sure that investments wont help make the river a hotspot for the citizens.
Comments
Essay evaluation report
Attribute Value Ideal
Final score: 4.0 out of 6
Category: Good Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 0 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 0 2
No. of Sentences: 26 15
No. of Words: 472 350
No. of Characters: 2165 1500
No. of Different Words: 213 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.661 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.587 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.546 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 128 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 98 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 75 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 43 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 18.154 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 8.685 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.615 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.303 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.476 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.109 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 3, column 92, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Put a space after the comma, but not before the comma
Suggestion: ,
...porting activities as diverse as fishing , swimming etc. It is not given anywhere ...
^^
Line 3, column 426, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Don't put a space before the full stop
Suggestion: .
...ngerous sometimes when the dam is opened . All of this endangers life. It is also ...
^^
Line 5, column 64, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Don't put a space before the full stop
Suggestion: .
... the river is well connected to the city . If there is no supporting infrastructur...
^^
Line 5, column 379, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Put a space after the comma, but not before the comma
Suggestion: ,
...place. Even if people still want to come ,it is possible that there the roads conn...
^^
Line 7, column 55, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Don't put a space before the full stop
Suggestion: .
...n what caused the contamination of water . It is possible that there is a lot of i...
^^
Line 7, column 148, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Don't put a space before the full stop
Suggestion: .
...ear the river that discharge their waste . So ,the water will again become dirty. ...
^^
Line 7, column 153, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Put a space after the comma, but not before the comma
Suggestion: ,
...he river that discharge their waste . So ,the water will again become dirty. So , ...
^^
Line 7, column 192, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Put a space after the comma, but not before the comma
Suggestion: ,
...o ,the water will again become dirty. So , it is possible that the program may fin...
^^
Line 7, column 270, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Put a space after the comma, but not before the comma
Suggestion: ,
... find initial success but after sometime , things will come back to the past .Assu...
^^
Line 7, column 306, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Don't put a space before the full stop
Suggestion: .
...time , things will come back to the past .Assumption is being made that citizens h...
^^
Line 7, column 308, Rule ID: SENTENCE_WHITESPACE
Message: Add a space between sentences
Suggestion: Assumption
...me , things will come back to the past .Assumption is being made that citizens have enough...
^^^^^^^^^^
Line 7, column 526, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Don't put a space before the full stop
Suggestion: .
...ustries which require long working hours . Such people will find it difficult to g...
^^
Line 7, column 605, Rule ID: SOME_OF_THE[1]
Message: Simply use 'some'.
Suggestion: some
...o get some time for recreation. Even if some of the citizens get time to visit the river , ...
^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 7, column 653, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Put a space after the comma, but not before the comma
Suggestion: ,
...the citizens get time to visit the river , it is likely that since they constitute...
^^
Line 7, column 784, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Don't put a space before the full stop
Suggestion: .
...ll only cause government enormous losses . Due to a lack of clarity in the argu...
^^
Line 9, column 41, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Put a space after the comma, but not before the comma
Suggestion: ,
...Due to a lack of clarity in the argument , one can be sure that investments wont h...
^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
actually, also, but, if, may, so, still, well
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 38.0 19.6327345309 194% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 17.0 12.9520958084 131% => OK
Conjunction : 9.0 11.1786427146 81% => OK
Relative clauses : 22.0 13.6137724551 162% => OK
Pronoun: 41.0 28.8173652695 142% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 39.0 55.5748502994 70% => OK
Nominalization: 11.0 16.3942115768 67% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2219.0 2260.96107784 98% => OK
No of words: 472.0 441.139720559 107% => OK
Chars per words: 4.70127118644 5.12650576532 92% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.6610686524 4.56307096286 102% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.63789415793 2.78398813304 95% => OK
Unique words: 214.0 204.123752495 105% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.453389830508 0.468620217663 97% => OK
syllable_count: 722.7 705.55239521 102% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.59920159681 94% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 15.0 4.96107784431 302% => Less pronouns wanted as sentence beginning.
Article: 5.0 8.76447105788 57% => OK
Subordination: 3.0 2.70958083832 111% => OK
Conjunction: 0.0 1.67365269461 0% => OK
Preposition: 1.0 4.22255489022 24% => More preposition wanted as sentence beginning.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 27.0 19.7664670659 137% => OK
Sentence length: 17.0 22.8473053892 74% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively short.
Sentence length SD: 46.7953252915 57.8364921388 81% => OK
Chars per sentence: 82.1851851852 119.503703932 69% => OK
Words per sentence: 17.4814814815 23.324526521 75% => OK
Discourse Markers: 1.66666666667 5.70786347227 29% => More transition words/phrases wanted.
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 16.0 5.25449101796 305% => Less language errors wanted.
Sentences with positive sentiment : 11.0 8.20758483034 134% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 9.0 6.88822355289 131% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 7.0 4.67664670659 150% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.150868985523 0.218282227539 69% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0479993940269 0.0743258471296 65% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0442592870431 0.0701772020484 63% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.0872268184136 0.128457276422 68% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0350822078951 0.0628817314937 56% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 9.4 14.3799401198 65% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 62.68 48.3550499002 130% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 7.1628742515 43% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 8.7 12.197005988 71% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 9.68 12.5979740519 77% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 7.46 8.32208582834 90% => OK
difficult_words: 89.0 98.500998004 90% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 7.0 12.3882235529 57% => Linsear_write_formula is low.
gunning_fog: 8.8 11.1389221557 79% => OK
text_standard: 9.0 11.9071856287 76% => OK
What are above readability scores?
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Rates: 50.0 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 3.0 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.