The surest indicator of a great nation is represented not by the achievements of its rulers, artists, or scientists, but by the general welfare of its people.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position.
To address the issue raised in the statement, it is important to clarify what it means to be a great nation. I would consider a nation great if it has made positive impact to the development of the contemporary world. Also, a nation that had contributed a great deal in the history of mankind should also be counted as a historically great nation. Given this understanding of greatness, I would first discuss why the general welfare of citizens is not a good indicator; I will then discuss some examples of great nations in history and in modern society to illustrate that the achievments of the elites are better indicators.
While there is no doubt that a nation where people enjoy high quality of life is admirable, the general welfare of the people cannot serve as a reliable indicator of the greatness of a nation. When the people have access to abundant material goods and quality education, they will enjoy a high standard of living. But it does not follow that the nation would necessarily play an important role in the international community. Maybe the nation is endowed with rich natural resources. As a result, the government could afford generous welfare programs that guarantee the quality of life of its citizens. Nevertheless, these wealthy nations do not deserve the label “great nations” unless they have made some substantial contribution to the world as a whole.
In modern society, great nations are often the nations where exceptional leaders in the fields of politics, art and science had achieved great works that can benefit not just their compatriots but the people all over the world. The theoretical physicists in the US who were responsible for the early development of the Internet had made significant contribution to the progress of Information society through their experiments of new technologies. As a result of their works and the other scientists in the US, the nation has become a great leader in information technologies and a great many people’s live have been transformed. Meanwhile, the US is also considered a great nation as it has produced a significant number of leading scientitsts who had been awarded Nobel prizes. These scientists’ achievement had great impact on contemporary society as well as future generations.
If we take a historical view, it is also clear that the achievements of the elites are the better indicator of whether a nation was great. In most ancient societies, the ruling elite often possess the majority of the land and the wealth. Consequently, with the huge income and wealth gap, the general welfare of the people was relatively poor. But nations with outstanding rulers, artists and scientists were still considered great as the achievements of the elites were important for the historical development of the world. Without the invention of paper by an anonymous group of Chinese scientists, for example, Europe could not enjoy the adundant supply of cheap materials for writing and exchanging ideas. Given its important contribution to the progress of the global civilization, it is indisputable that ancient China was one of the greatest nations in the world history. As this example clearly illustrates, the achievement of the elites can be used to better indicate the historical greatness of a nation.
Overall speaking, people may disagree on what makes a great nation; as a result, opinions over this issue may vary greatly among people. If the greatness can be defined as a nation’s influence to the historical or contemporary development of the global society, then the achievements of the elites can be used as reliable indicators to determine the greatness of a nation. Meanwhile, the general welfare may not be a very yseful indicator because certain factors that are not related to the greatness of nations could be crucial in determining the general welfare of people.
Grammar and spelling errors:
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...eat nation. Given this understanding of greatness, I would first discuss why the...
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...ts of the elites are better indicators. While there is no doubt that a nation wh...
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...l contribution to the world as a whole. In modern society, great nations are oft...
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Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, but, consequently, first, if, may, nevertheless, so, still, then, well, while, for example, in fact, no doubt, as a result, as well as
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 27.0 19.5258426966 138% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 17.0 12.4196629213 137% => OK
Conjunction : 13.0 14.8657303371 87% => OK
Relative clauses : 14.0 11.3162921348 124% => OK
Pronoun: 35.0 33.0505617978 106% => OK
Preposition: 74.0 58.6224719101 126% => OK
Nominalization: 18.0 12.9106741573 139% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 3269.0 2235.4752809 146% => OK
No of words: 635.0 442.535393258 143% => Less content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.14803149606 5.05705443957 102% => OK
Fourth root words length: 5.01988110783 4.55969084622 110% => OK
Word Length SD: 3.03270453467 2.79657885939 108% => OK
Unique words: 275.0 215.323595506 128% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.433070866142 0.4932671777 88% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 1035.9 704.065955056 147% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.59117977528 101% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 9.0 6.24550561798 144% => OK
Article: 10.0 4.99550561798 200% => Less articles wanted as sentence beginning.
Subordination: 9.0 3.10617977528 290% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 2.0 1.77640449438 113% => OK
Preposition: 5.0 4.38483146067 114% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 25.0 20.2370786517 124% => OK
Sentence length: 25.0 23.0359550562 109% => OK
Sentence length SD: 51.5660973897 60.3974514979 85% => OK
Chars per sentence: 130.76 118.986275619 110% => OK
Words per sentence: 25.4 23.4991977007 108% => OK
Discourse Markers: 5.6 5.21951772744 107% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 4.97078651685 101% => OK
Language errors: 3.0 7.80617977528 38% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 23.0 10.2758426966 224% => Less positive sentences wanted.
Sentences with negative sentiment : 1.0 5.13820224719 19% => More negative sentences wanted.
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 1.0 4.83258426966 21% => More facts, knowledge or examples wanted.
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.232189670341 0.243740707755 95% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0742022426786 0.0831039109588 89% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0406033622821 0.0758088955206 54% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.145706737482 0.150359130593 97% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0299878614993 0.0667264976115 45% => Paragraphs are similar to each other. Some content may get duplicated or it is not exactly right on the topic.
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 15.5 14.1392134831 110% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 46.1 48.8420337079 94% => OK
smog_index: 11.2 7.92365168539 141% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 13.0 12.1743820225 107% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.89 12.1639044944 106% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.66 8.38706741573 103% => OK
difficult_words: 152.0 100.480337079 151% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 14.0 11.8971910112 118% => OK
gunning_fog: 12.0 11.2143820225 107% => OK
text_standard: 13.0 11.7820224719 110% => OK
What are above readability scores?
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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.