Altruism is a type of behavior in which an animal sacrifices its own interest for that of another animal or group of animals. Altruism is the opposite of selfishness; individuals performing altruistic acts gain nothing for themselves.
Examples of altruism abound, both among humans and among other mammals. Unselfish acts among humans range from the sharing of food with strangers to the donation of body organs to family members, and even to strangers. Such acts are altruistic in that they benefit another, yet provide little reward to the one performing the act.In fact, many species of animals appear willing to sacrifice food, or even their life, to assist other members of their group.
The meerkat, which is a mammal that dwells in burrows in grassland areas of Africa, is often cited as an example. In groups of meerkats, an individual acts as a sentinel, standing guard and looking out for predators while the others hunt for food or eat food they have obtained. If the sentinel meerkat sees a predator such as a hawk approaching the group, it gives an alarm cry alerting the other meerkats to run and seek shelter. By standing guard,the sentinel meerkat gains nothing—it goes without food while the others eat, and it places itself in grave danger. After it issues an alarm, it has to flee alone, which might make it more at risk to a predator, since animals in groups are often able to work together to fend off a predator. So the altruistic sentinel behavior helps ensure the survival of other members of the meerkat’s group.
The article is about altruism which it defines as the opposite of selfishness. The article states that individuals performing altruistic acts do it without gaining anything for themselves, and provides two reasons for support. However, the professor explains that altruistic acts often come with some valuable benefits and refutes each of the authors' reasons.
First, the reading uses the example of the meerkat to posit that the sentinel meerkat gains nothing by standing guard. The professor refutes this point by evaluating the meerkats eating behaviour saying that the sentinel meerkat stands guard with a full stomach. She further states that the sentinel meerkat is in a vantage position when standing guard as it is the first to see the predator coming and would hide before the others. Also, the alarm cry from the sentinel meerkat may alert the other meerkats wrongly causing them to gather rather than running for their lives.
Second, the article posits that the donation of body organs by humans, to family members and also sharing of food with strangers, are altruistic acts as they provide a little reward to the one performing the act. The professor opposes this point by explaining that these donations often come with non-materialistic rewards like appreciation and approval from society. She stated further that these donations give the donor a sense of self-worth which is also very valuable.
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, first, however, may, second, so
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 5.0 10.4613686534 48% => More to be verbs wanted.
Auxiliary verbs: 2.0 5.04856512141 40% => OK
Conjunction : 5.0 7.30242825607 68% => OK
Relative clauses : 11.0 12.0772626932 91% => OK
Pronoun: 21.0 22.412803532 94% => OK
Preposition: 27.0 30.3222958057 89% => OK
Nominalization: 3.0 5.01324503311 60% => More nominalizations (nouns with a suffix like: tion ment ence ance) wanted.
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1193.0 1373.03311258 87% => OK
No of words: 227.0 270.72406181 84% => More content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.25550660793 5.08290768461 103% => OK
Fourth root words length: 3.88156143495 4.04702891845 96% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.58072337319 2.5805825403 100% => OK
Unique words: 133.0 145.348785872 92% => More unique words wanted.
Unique words percentage: 0.5859030837 0.540411800872 108% => OK
syllable_count: 356.4 419.366225166 85% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.55342163355 103% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 2.0 3.25607064018 61% => OK
Article: 8.0 8.23620309051 97% => OK
Subordination: 0.0 1.25165562914 0% => More adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 1.0 1.51434878587 66% => OK
Preposition: 1.0 2.5761589404 39% => More preposition wanted as sentence beginning.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 10.0 13.0662251656 77% => Need more sentences. Double check the format of sentences, make sure there is a space between two sentences, or have enough periods. And also check the lengths of sentences, maybe they are too long.
Sentence length: 22.0 21.2450331126 104% => OK
Sentence length SD: 34.4963766213 49.2860985944 70% => OK
Chars per sentence: 119.3 110.228320801 108% => OK
Words per sentence: 22.7 21.698381199 105% => OK
Discourse Markers: 3.7 7.06452816374 52% => More transition words/phrases wanted.
Paragraphs: 3.0 4.09492273731 73% => More paragraphs wanted.
Language errors: 0.0 4.19205298013 0% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 6.0 4.33554083885 138% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 3.0 4.45695364238 67% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 1.0 4.27373068433 23% => More facts, knowledge or examples wanted.
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.13212239837 0.272083759551 49% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0598619615141 0.0996497079465 60% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0665771232565 0.0662205650399 101% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.103606878536 0.162205337803 64% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0881028720762 0.0443174109184 199% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 14.7 13.3589403974 110% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 49.15 53.8541721854 91% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 5.55761589404 56% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 11.9 11.0289183223 108% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 13.52 12.2367328918 110% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 9.04 8.42419426049 107% => OK
difficult_words: 62.0 63.6247240618 97% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 7.5 10.7273730684 70% => OK
gunning_fog: 10.8 10.498013245 103% => OK
text_standard: 11.0 11.2008830022 98% => OK
What are above readability scores?
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Minimum four paragraphs wanted. The correct pattern:
para 1: introduction
para 2: doubt 1
para 3: doubt 2
para 4: doubt 3
Less contents wanted from the reading passages(25%), more content wanted from the lecture (75%).
Don't need a conclusion paragraph.
Read sample essays from ETS:
http://www.testbig.com/users/toeflwritingmaster
Rates: 80.0 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 24.0 Out of 30
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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.