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 in the presented argument derives a conclusion about origin of a woven basket characterized by a particular distinctive pattern. He concludes that even though they were initially only spotted in Palea, the recent discovery of similar baskets by archaeologists in another village Lithos which is across a deep and broad river with no signs of Palean boats means that these baskets were not uniquely Palean. Although this line of reasoning faintly supports the conclusion, exploring the hidden assumptions could result in useful insights that can further strengthen the conclusion or open up alternative theories.
The author mentions only two probable origins for the baskets when they could have been indigenous to a place that the author might have failed to even consider. Some people from prehistoric times were nomadic, meaning they moved from one place to another frequently, just carrying some essentials with them. It is possible that these people (who are native to neither Palea nor Lithos) might have used these baskets to store their essentials during their journey. And these nomads could have even traveled from places that are astronomically far away from Palea or Lithos. Unless the author explores this possibility, the probability of the woven baskets belonging to Palea or Lithos will remain equal to that of any other place in the world and that means the evidence provided in the argument does not fully support the conclusion.
Building upon the implication that the river separating the two villages is broad and deep and no Palean boats were found, the author suggests that the baskets could have been made by villagers of Lithos also. In doing so, the author has neglected a basic viewpoint which is, the acts of nature. The river currents could have carried them from one side to the other. Or, The baskets could have been light enough for a strong wind to lift them up from Palea and drop them precisely in the vicinity of Lithos or vice-versa. If winds are the medium, that makes it even more difficult to identify the exact origin of these baskets. The author can examine the weather conditions of these places or other places close by to evaluate a conclusion based on more meaningful insights.
Additionally, if we play close attention to “no palean boats have been found”, we would notice that the author somehow specifically looked for the presence or absence of only palean boats. Were there Lithos boats in the river banks? Were there any boats at all? These are some of the questions the author needs to find answers for. They could really help in figuring out a potential medium by which the baskets could have been transported from one village to another. Again, circling back to the second paragraph, if boats were a means of transport, the actual place of origin for these baskets could be anywhere on the globe. Besides nomads, traders carrying goods from long distances could have used these baskets to store their products. The existence of any boat (if not palean boat) near the river would open up alternative theories regarding the nativity of the baskets.
If all the aforementioned alternatives are explored, it would result in a more sound and cogent conclusion that is fully backed up by solid reasoning. Although it is hard to come to a concrete conclusion like “these baskets belong to this particular village”, it will lead us to a more conscionable result like, “it is likely that the traders or nomads from so and so place have traveled to this village, carrying their goods in these baskets” or “winds and water tides might have acted as medium for their transport”. While it is satisfactory for people when something is certain, it is also important to not base certainty on falsity.
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: 25 15
No. of Words: 630 350
No. of Characters: 3059 1500
No. of Different Words: 267 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 5.01 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.856 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.5 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 205 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 142 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 98 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 61 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 25.2 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 12.387 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.44 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.312 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.485 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.123 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 5, column 205, Rule ID: ALSO_SENT_END[1]
Message: 'Also' is not used at the end of the sentence. Use 'as well' instead.
Suggestion: as well
...d have been made by villagers of Lithos also. In doing so, the author has neglected ...
^^^^
Line 7, column 283, Rule ID: SOME_OF_THE[1]
Message: Simply use 'some'.
Suggestion: some
... Were there any boats at all? These are some of the questions the author needs to find answ...
^^^^^^^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, besides, if, look, really, regarding, second, so, then, while
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 28.0 19.6327345309 143% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 20.0 12.9520958084 154% => OK
Conjunction : 18.0 11.1786427146 161% => OK
Relative clauses : 20.0 13.6137724551 147% => OK
Pronoun: 54.0 28.8173652695 187% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 86.0 55.5748502994 155% => OK
Nominalization: 8.0 16.3942115768 49% => More nominalizations (nouns with a suffix like: tion ment ence ance) wanted.
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 3169.0 2260.96107784 140% => OK
No of words: 630.0 441.139720559 143% => Less content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.03015873016 5.12650576532 98% => OK
Fourth root words length: 5.00997013923 4.56307096286 110% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.66993422257 2.78398813304 96% => OK
Unique words: 287.0 204.123752495 141% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.455555555556 0.468620217663 97% => OK
syllable_count: 997.2 705.55239521 141% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.59920159681 100% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 11.0 4.96107784431 222% => Less pronouns wanted as sentence beginning.
Article: 12.0 8.76447105788 137% => OK
Subordination: 8.0 2.70958083832 295% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 2.0 1.67365269461 119% => OK
Preposition: 2.0 4.22255489022 47% => More preposition wanted as sentence beginning.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 25.0 19.7664670659 126% => OK
Sentence length: 25.0 22.8473053892 109% => OK
Sentence length SD: 77.0546403535 57.8364921388 133% => OK
Chars per sentence: 126.76 119.503703932 106% => OK
Words per sentence: 25.2 23.324526521 108% => OK
Discourse Markers: 2.68 5.70786347227 47% => More transition words/phrases wanted.
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 2.0 5.25449101796 38% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 8.0 8.20758483034 97% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 7.0 6.88822355289 102% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 10.0 4.67664670659 214% => Less facts, knowledge or examples wanted.
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.246925117289 0.218282227539 113% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0713720846954 0.0743258471296 96% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0690885631072 0.0701772020484 98% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.152284831659 0.128457276422 119% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0445278989691 0.0628817314937 71% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 14.9 14.3799401198 104% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 46.1 48.3550499002 95% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.1628742515 123% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 13.0 12.197005988 107% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.19 12.5979740519 97% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.51 8.32208582834 102% => OK
difficult_words: 145.0 98.500998004 147% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 14.5 12.3882235529 117% => OK
gunning_fog: 12.0 11.1389221557 108% => OK
text_standard: 15.0 11.9071856287 126% => OK
What are above readability scores?
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Write the essay in 30 minutes.
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.