Woven baskets characterized by a particular distinctive pattern have previously been found only in the immediate vicinity of the prehistoric village of Palea and therefore were believed to have been made only by the Palean people. Recently, however, archaeologists discovered such a "Palean" basket in Lithos, an ancient village across the Brim River from Palea. The Brim River is very deep and broad, and so the ancient Paleans could have crossed it only by boat, and no Palean boats have been found. Thus it follows that the so-called Palean baskets were not uniquely Palean.
The author argues that Palean baskets were not uniquely Palean. To support his/her claim, the author cites the following evidences: first, archaeologists discovered such Palean basket in Lithos; second, there is a very deep and broad river that can be crossed only by boat; third, no Palean boats have been found. Tough the issue has its merit, due to unpersuasive evidences and unaddressed assumptions, the conclusion is unsubstantiated and flawed.
To begin with, the author unfairly assumes that all the conditions about two villages are unchanged over years. That the current Brim River is very deep and broad does not necessarily mean it was very deep and wide in the ancient. Say, for example, the river used to be very shallow, then it is obvious that we are not able to find the boats around. There could be even no river in the ancient at all. The Brim River was built in the recent years. Citizens in these two villages could easily move to another village by walking. In addition, the baskets could be transposed by current people from Palea to Lithos, instead of ancient people. The argument made by the author is questionable when there was dramatic change happening from past to present, especially the condition about the Brim River.
Moreover, lacking of evidence of Palean boats does not mean there is no evidence about boat. Probably the boats were belonged to people in Lithos, and they used boats to get Woven baskets. Archaeologists today may not be obtained with sophisticated tools or ways to detect the ancient. It is promising, nonetheless, to gather more hints and evidences about the Palean boats as the result of technology advancement. The Palean boats might be made of disposable materials like wood in the ancient. They disposed through a series of processes with the assistance of rain, wind, and bacteria activities. The boats, in this case, are not likely to be found today even if there was a bridge in the past.
Last but not least, the author assumes that boat is the only method to cross the river. In other words, he/she fails to consider many other approaches to cross the river. If ancient people living around the river were all good at swimming, then Woven basket can be transported by people who swam. Another possibility is that there was a bridge on the river, but as time passes, the bridge was broken and then no longer exists today. Palean baskets, therefore, can be readily transported to Lithos from Palea in the ancient. Without the detailed information about ancient Palea and Lithos, we are not equipped with the ability to draw any conclusion about the origin of Woven basket.
To sum up, as it stands, the author makes conclusion based on several questionable assumptions which undermines its validity. To further strengthen his argument, the author has to provide evidences as follows: first, there was also a deep and wide river across two villages; second, no boats could be found after excluding all other possibilities by precise investigation; third, the only way to approach Litho from Palea is by boating.
Comments
Essay evaluation report
flaws:
more arguments wanted, like:
the sample size is small. only one Palean can't mean something.
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Attribute Value Ideal
Final score: 4.5 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: 520 350
No. of Characters: 2479 1500
No. of Different Words: 235 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.775 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.767 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.523 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 162 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 108 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 70 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 46 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 20 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 8.974 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.577 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.287 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.474 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.091 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 450, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...onclusion is unsubstantiated and flawed. To begin with, the author unfairly assum...
^^^^^^^
Line 3, column 798, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...ally the condition about the Brim River. Moreover, lacking of evidence of Palean ...
^^^^^^
Line 5, column 290, Rule ID: PROGRESSIVE_VERBS[1]
Message: This verb is normally not used in the progressive form. Try a simple form instead.
...tools or ways to detect the ancient. It is promising, nonetheless, to gather more hints and ...
^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 7, column 1, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...n if there was a bridge in the past. Last but not least, the author assumes t...
^^
Line 7, column 685, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...lusion about the origin of Woven basket. To sum up, as it stands, the author make...
^^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, but, first, if, may, moreover, nonetheless, second, so, then, therefore, third, as to, for example, in addition, in other words, to begin with, to sum up
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 35.0 19.6327345309 178% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 9.0 12.9520958084 69% => OK
Conjunction : 14.0 11.1786427146 125% => OK
Relative clauses : 10.0 13.6137724551 73% => More relative clauses wanted.
Pronoun: 24.0 28.8173652695 83% => OK
Preposition: 78.0 55.5748502994 140% => OK
Nominalization: 10.0 16.3942115768 61% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2594.0 2260.96107784 115% => OK
No of words: 517.0 441.139720559 117% => OK
Chars per words: 5.01740812379 5.12650576532 98% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.76839952204 4.56307096286 104% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.7128333618 2.78398813304 97% => OK
Unique words: 247.0 204.123752495 121% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.477756286267 0.468620217663 102% => OK
syllable_count: 791.1 705.55239521 112% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.59920159681 94% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 5.0 4.96107784431 101% => OK
Article: 14.0 8.76447105788 160% => OK
Subordination: 2.0 2.70958083832 74% => OK
Conjunction: 3.0 1.67365269461 179% => OK
Preposition: 10.0 4.22255489022 237% => Less preposition wanted as sentence beginnings.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 23.0 19.7664670659 116% => OK
Sentence length: 22.0 22.8473053892 96% => OK
Sentence length SD: 77.8232693199 57.8364921388 135% => OK
Chars per sentence: 112.782608696 119.503703932 94% => OK
Words per sentence: 22.4782608696 23.324526521 96% => OK
Discourse Markers: 6.91304347826 5.70786347227 121% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 5.0 5.25449101796 95% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 7.0 8.20758483034 85% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 7.0 6.88822355289 102% => 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: 0.129743620672 0.218282227539 59% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0410623922531 0.0743258471296 55% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0449649256724 0.0701772020484 64% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.0845355810146 0.128457276422 66% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.051641588503 0.0628817314937 82% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 13.5 14.3799401198 94% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 57.61 48.3550499002 119% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.1628742515 123% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 10.7 12.197005988 88% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.13 12.5979740519 96% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.33 8.32208582834 100% => OK
difficult_words: 118.0 98.500998004 120% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 15.0 12.3882235529 121% => OK
gunning_fog: 10.8 11.1389221557 97% => OK
text_standard: 11.0 11.9071856287 92% => 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.