Brendan the Navigator was an Irish priest who lived in the 6th century. He is most famous for embarking on a voyage in search of the mythical “Island of the Blessed.” The details of Brendan's voyage, recorded as stories in old manuscripts, suggest to some that Brendan and his crew reached North America during their voyage, becoming the first Europeans to do so Those who advance this theory support it with several arguments
First, the written stories about Brendan’s voyage seem to make references to places his crew would have visited on the way to North America Sailors in Brendan's time typically traveled from island to island to avoid the dangers of long periods on the open seas A journey from Ireland to North America would have taken Brendan to the Faroe Islands. Iceland, and Greenland before reaching the North American continent (see illustration). Places described in the stories about Brendan’s voyage share characteristics with some of those island locations.
Second, a team of researchers recently constructed a boat resembling a curragh, an old Irish boat of the type used by Brendan Curraghs had a wooden frame with cowhides stretched over it. In building the boat, the researchers used only materials and techniques available in Brendan’s time. The researchers were able to sail this boat from Ireland to North America, demonstrating that boat technology in Brendan’s time was sufficient for a journey across the Atlantic Ocean
Third, old markings that may have a connection to Brendan’s voyage have been discovered at several locations in North America Cut into rocks, these markings consist of narrow vertical lines resembling letters of ogham, an old Irish alphabet in frequent use in Brendan’s time. The resemblance of those marks to ogham has convinced some that the markings were made by members of Brendan’s crew
In the reading passage, the author concentrates on several arguments to prove that Brendan and his crew were the first Europeans to reach North America. However, the lecturer casts doubt on these arguments and respectively points out the problems with all the author's assertions.
Firstly, the author argues that the written stories about Brendan's journey appear to make some references to some places similar to island locations along a voyage to America. Nevertheless, the lecturer challenges this idea and states that some people may have misinterpreted some elements in these stories. For instance, in one story it is explained that sheep were being bred, and as a result, some people are mistaken since raising sheep could be done in other places too in addition to North America. Also, those people are wrong about descriptions similar to volcanos because these descriptions are actually about hills that they set fire.
Secondly, the author suggests that some researchers recently have constructed a boat resembling a curragh. Conversely, the lecturer brings up the fact that the built boat is not the exact copy of a curragh. This boat is 2 meters long and Brendan and his crew could not probably build such a large boat. Consequently, this reason is not true too.
Lastly, the author asserts that some old markings discovered at several places in North America are like ogham, an old Irish alphabet. In contrast, the lecturer refutes this claim and clarifies that some markings resemble letters of ogham, but some others do not. For example, there are some signs which are actually pictures. They are similar to the sun, tree, and hand. Thus, they cannot be related to ogham since ogham is an alphabet containing letters, not pictures. Therefore, these pictures might be produced by Native Americans.
Transition Words or Phrases used:
actually, also, but, consequently, conversely, first, firstly, however, if, lastly, may, nevertheless, second, secondly, so, therefore, thus, for example, for instance, in addition, in contrast, as a result
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 18.0 10.4613686534 172% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 5.0 5.04856512141 99% => OK
Conjunction : 9.0 7.30242825607 123% => OK
Relative clauses : 10.0 12.0772626932 83% => OK
Pronoun: 24.0 22.412803532 107% => OK
Preposition: 32.0 30.3222958057 106% => OK
Nominalization: 2.0 5.01324503311 40% => More nominalizations (nouns with a suffix like: tion ment ence ance) wanted.
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1520.0 1373.03311258 111% => OK
No of words: 295.0 270.72406181 109% => OK
Chars per words: 5.15254237288 5.08290768461 101% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.14434120667 4.04702891845 102% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.60140726064 2.5805825403 101% => OK
Unique words: 170.0 145.348785872 117% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.576271186441 0.540411800872 107% => OK
syllable_count: 472.5 419.366225166 113% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.55342163355 103% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 6.0 3.25607064018 184% => OK
Article: 9.0 8.23620309051 109% => OK
Subordination: 0.0 1.25165562914 0% => More adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 3.0 1.51434878587 198% => OK
Preposition: 3.0 2.5761589404 116% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 16.0 13.0662251656 122% => OK
Sentence length: 18.0 21.2450331126 85% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively short.
Sentence length SD: 43.0616835917 49.2860985944 87% => OK
Chars per sentence: 95.0 110.228320801 86% => OK
Words per sentence: 18.4375 21.698381199 85% => OK
Discourse Markers: 12.875 7.06452816374 182% => OK
Paragraphs: 4.0 4.09492273731 98% => OK
Language errors: 0.0 4.19205298013 0% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 3.0 4.33554083885 69% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 7.0 4.45695364238 157% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 6.0 4.27373068433 140% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.141594056387 0.272083759551 52% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0427006712704 0.0996497079465 43% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0478308093455 0.0662205650399 72% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.074793694167 0.162205337803 46% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0356520317596 0.0443174109184 80% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 12.0 13.3589403974 90% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 53.21 53.8541721854 99% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 5.55761589404 56% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 10.3 11.0289183223 93% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.59 12.2367328918 103% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.33 8.42419426049 99% => OK
difficult_words: 71.0 63.6247240618 112% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 11.5 10.7273730684 107% => OK
gunning_fog: 9.2 10.498013245 88% => OK
text_standard: 12.0 11.2008830022 107% => OK
What are above readability scores?
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Rates: 86.6666666667 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 26.0 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.