"Anyone can make things bigger and more complex. What requires real effort and courage is
to move in the opposite direction---in other words, to make things as simple as possible."
Whether making things simple requires greater effort and courage than making them bigger
and more complex depends on the sort of effort and courage. Indisputably, the many complex
technological marvels that are part-and-parcel of our Lives today are the result of the
extraordinary cumulative efforts of our engineers, entrepreneurs, and others. And, such
achievements always call for the courage to risk failing in a large way. Yet, humans seem
naturally driven to make things bigger and more complex; thus refraining from doing so, or
reversing this natural process, takes considerable effort and courage of a different sort, as
discussed below.
The statement brings immediately to mind the ever-growing and increasingly complex digital
world. Today's high-tech firms seem compelled to boldly go to whatever effort is required to
devise increasingly complex products, for the ostensible purpose of staying ahead of their
competitors. Yet, the sort of effort and courage to which the statement refers is a different
one--bred of vision, imagination, and a willingness to forego near term profits for the prospect
of making lasting contributions. Surely, a number of entrepreneurs and engineers today are
mustering that courage, and are making the effort to create far simpler, yet more elegant,
technologies and applications, which will truly make our lives simpler in sharp contrast to
what computer technology has delivered to us so far.
Lending even more credence to the statement is the so-called "big government"
phenomenon. Human societies have a natural tendency to create unwieldy bureaucracies, a
fitting example of which is the U.S. tax-law system. The Intemal Revenue Code and its
accompanying Treasury Regulations have grown so voluminous and complex that many
certified accountants and tax attorneys admit that they cannot begin to understand it all.
Admittedly, this system has grown only through considerable effort on the part of all three
branches of the federal government, not to mention the efforts of many special interest groups.
Yet, therein lies the statement's credibility. It requires great effort and courage on the part of a
legislator to risk alienating special interest groups, thereby risking reelection prospects, by
15
standing on principle for a simpler tax system that is less costly to administer and better serves
the interests of most taxpayers.
Adding further credibility to the statement is the tendency of most people to complicate their
personal lives--a tendency that seems especially strong in today's age of technology and
consumerism. The greater our mobility, the greater our number of destinations each day; the
more time-saving gadgets we use, the more activities we try to pack into our day; and with
readier access to information we try to assimilate more of it each day. I am hard-pressed to
think of one person who has ever exclaimed to me how much effort and courage it has taken to
complicate his or her life in these respects. In contrast, a certain self-restraint and courage of
conviction are both required to eschew modern conveniences, to simplify one'sdaily schedule,
and to establish and adhere to a simple plan for the use of one's time and money.
In sum, whether we are building computer networks, government agencies, or personal
lifestyles, great effort and courage are required to make things simple, or to keep them that
way. Moreover, because humans na~traUy tend to make things big and complex, it arguably
requires more effort and courage to move in the opposite direction. In the final analysis,
making things simple---or keeping them that way--takes a brand of effort born of reflection and
restraint rather than sheer exertion, and a courage character and conviction rather than
unbridled ambition.
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 5, column 58, Rule ID: IN_A_X_MANNER[1]
Message: Consider replacing "in a large way" with adverb for "large"; eg, "in a hasty manner" with "hastily".
...ys call for the courage to risk failing in a large way. Yet, humans seem naturally driven to ...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 20, column 83, Rule ID: IT_IS[7]
Message: Did you mean 'it's' (='it is') instead of 'its' (possessive pronoun)?
Suggestion: it's; it is
...aw system. The Intemal Revenue Code and its accompanying Treasury Regulations have...
^^^
Line 25, column 23, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[2]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'statements'' or 'statement's'?
Suggestion: statements'; statement's
...interest groups. Yet, therein lies the statements credibility. It requires great effort a...
^^^^^^^^^^
Line 38, column 61, Rule ID: ONES[1]
Message: Did you mean 'one's'?
Suggestion: one's
... adhere to a simple plan for the use of ones time and money. In sum, whether we are...
^^^^
Discourse Markers used:
['but', 'if', 'moreover', 'so', 'thus', 'in contrast', 'sort of']
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance in Part of Speech:
Nouns: 0.245901639344 0.240241500013 102% => OK
Verbs: 0.147540983607 0.157235817809 94% => OK
Adjectives: 0.111773472429 0.0880659088768 127% => OK
Adverbs: 0.0521609538003 0.0497285424764 105% => OK
Pronouns: 0.0402384500745 0.0444667217837 90% => OK
Prepositions: 0.0879284649776 0.12292977631 72% => OK
Participles: 0.0447093889717 0.0406280797675 110% => OK
Conjunctions: 3.03580497669 2.79330140395 109% => OK
Infinitives: 0.0491803278689 0.030933414821 159% => OK
Particles: 0.0 0.0016655270985 0% => OK
Determiners: 0.0819672131148 0.0997080785238 82% => OK
Modal_auxiliary: 0.00298062593145 0.0249443105267 12% => Some modal verbs wanted.
WH_determiners: 0.0134128166915 0.0148568991511 90% => OK
Vocabulary words and sentences:
No of characters: 3822.0 2732.02544248 140% => OK
No of words: 595.0 452.878318584 131% => OK
Chars per words: 6.42352941176 6.0361032391 106% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.93888872473 4.58838876751 108% => OK
words length more than 5 chars: 0.438655462185 0.366273622748 120% => OK
words length more than 6 chars: 0.336134453782 0.280924506359 120% => OK
words length more than 7 chars: 0.233613445378 0.200843997647 116% => OK
words length more than 8 chars: 0.173109243697 0.132149295362 131% => OK
Word Length SD: 3.03580497669 2.79330140395 109% => OK
Unique words: 314.0 219.290929204 143% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.527731092437 0.48968727796 108% => OK
Word variations: 66.9979248967 55.4138127331 121% => OK
How many sentences: 21.0 20.6194690265 102% => OK
Sentence length: 28.3333333333 23.380412469 121% => OK
Sentence length SD: 63.0501725853 59.4972553346 106% => OK
Chars per sentence: 182.0 141.124799967 129% => OK
Words per sentence: 28.3333333333 23.380412469 121% => OK
Discourse Markers: 0.333333333333 0.674092028746 49% => More Discourse Markers wanted.
Paragraphs: 42.0 4.94800884956 849% => There are something wrong with the essay format.
Language errors: 4.0 5.21349557522 77% => OK
Readability: 61.9467787115 51.4728631049 120% => OK
Elegance: 1.57763975155 1.64882698954 96% => OK
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.376510250566 0.391690518653 96% => OK
Sentence sentence coherence: 0.0960030627298 0.123202303941 78% => OK
Sentence sentence coherence SD: 0.0467860322121 0.077325440228 61% => OK
Sentence paragraph coherence: 0.81202569399 0.547984918172 148% => OK
Sentence paragraph coherence SD: 0.265346740304 0.149214159877 178% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.159938838603 0.161403998019 99% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0915232012497 0.0892212321368 103% => OK
Paragraph paragraph coherence: 0.0932668832583 0.385218514788 24% => OK
Paragraph paragraph coherence SD: 0.07721769876 0.0692045440612 112% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.115816553133 0.275328986314 42% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0781878476864 0.0653680567796 120% => OK
Task Achievement:
Sentences with positive sentiment : 17.0 10.4325221239 163% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 2.0 5.30420353982 38% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 2.0 4.88274336283 41% => OK
Positive topic words: 14.0 7.22455752212 194% => OK
Negative topic words: 0.0 3.66592920354 0% => More negative topic words wanted.
Neutral topic words: 1.0 2.70907079646 37% => OK
Total topic words: 15.0 13.5995575221 110% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
---------------------
Rates: 54.17 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 3.25 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.