Carved stone balls are a curious type of artifact found at a number of locations in Scotland. They date from the late Neolithic period, around 4,000 years ago. They are round in shape; they were carved from several types of stone; most are about 70 mm in diameter; and many are ornamented to some degree. Archaeologists do not agree about their purpose and meaning, but there are several theories.
One theory is that the carved stone balls were weapons used in hunting or fighting. Some of the stone balls have been found with holes in them, and many have grooves on the surface. It is possible that a cord was strung through the holes or laid in the grooves around the ball. Holding the stone ball at the end of the cord would have allowed a person to swing it around or throw it.
A second theory is that the carved stone balls were used as part of a primitive system of weights and measures. The fact that they are so nearly uniform in size—at 70 mm in diameter—suggests that the balls were interchangeable and represented some standard unit of measure. They could have been used as standard weights to measure quantities of grain or other food, or anything that needed to be measured by weight on a balance or scale for the purpose of trade.
A third theory is that the carved stone balls served a social purpose as opposed to a practical or utilitarian one. This view is supported by the fact that many stone balls have elaborate designs. The elaborate carving suggests that the stones may have marked the important social status of their owners.
The reading passage raised three possible theories to explain the purpose and meaning of the carved stone balls, all of which are refuted by the following lecture.
First, the reading passage states that carved stone balls were weapons used in hunting or fighting. It is because some of the stone balls have been found with holes in them, and many have grooves on the surface. Conversely, the speaker refutes that common Neolithic weapons such as arrowheads and hand axes generally show signs of wear. So if the stone balls were used as weapons, they would show signs of that use, and many of them would be cracked or have pieces broken off. But the surfaces of the balls were generally well preserved, which indicates that the stone balls were not used as weapons.
Second, according to the writer, carved stone balls were used as part of a primitive system of weights and measures since they are so uniform in size. In contrast, the speaker claims that the masses of these stone balls vary too considerably to have been used as uniform weights since they are made of different types of stone. Since each type of stone has a different density, two balls of the same size are different in terms of weight. Thus, the balls were not supposed to be used as a primitive weighting system.
Third, the writer makes the point that the carved stone balls served a social purpose as opposed to a practical or utilitarian one because many have elaborate designs. On the contrary, the speaker demonstrates a different idea that the balls were unlikely to be some kind of social marker for two reasons. For one thing, many other balls have markings that are too simple to make the balls look like status symbols. In addition, when someone in Neolithic Britain died, especially a high-ranking person, they were usually buried with their possessions. But none of the balls have been found in tombs or graves, which indicates that the balls were unlikely to be used to mark a person’s status.
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- TPO 47 70
- Carved stone balls are a curious type of artifact found at a number of locations in Scotland They date from the late Neolithic period around 4 000 years ago They are round in shape they were carved from several types of stone most are about 70 mm in diame 63
- Some parents offer their school-age children money for each high grade (mark) they get in school. Do you think this is a good idea?Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer. 73
- TPO 48 - Integrated writing 80
- Some parents offer their school age children money for each high grade mark they get in school Do you think this is a good idea Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer 87
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 3, column 115, Rule ID: SOME_OF_THE[1]
Message: Simply use 'some'.
Suggestion: some
...d in hunting or fighting. It is because some of the stone balls have been found with holes ...
^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 5, column 135, Rule ID: ADJECTIVE_IN_ATTRIBUTE[1]
Message: A more concise phrase may lose no meaning and sound more powerful.
Suggestion: uniform
... weights and measures since they are so uniform in size. In contrast, the speaker claims that t...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
but, conversely, first, if, look, second, so, third, thus, well, in addition, in contrast, kind of, such as, for one thing, on the contrary
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 22.0 10.4613686534 210% => Less to be verbs wanted.
Auxiliary verbs: 2.0 5.04856512141 40% => OK
Conjunction : 11.0 7.30242825607 151% => OK
Relative clauses : 13.0 12.0772626932 108% => OK
Pronoun: 18.0 22.412803532 80% => OK
Preposition: 44.0 30.3222958057 145% => OK
Nominalization: 1.0 5.01324503311 20% => More nominalizations (nouns with a suffix like: tion ment ence ance) wanted.
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1645.0 1373.03311258 120% => OK
No of words: 344.0 270.72406181 127% => OK
Chars per words: 4.78197674419 5.08290768461 94% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.30665032142 4.04702891845 106% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.35201366783 2.5805825403 91% => OK
Unique words: 164.0 145.348785872 113% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.476744186047 0.540411800872 88% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 516.6 419.366225166 123% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.55342163355 97% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 3.0 3.25607064018 92% => OK
Article: 7.0 8.23620309051 85% => OK
Subordination: 2.0 1.25165562914 160% => OK
Conjunction: 4.0 1.51434878587 264% => Less conjunction wanted as sentence beginning.
Preposition: 5.0 2.5761589404 194% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 15.0 13.0662251656 115% => OK
Sentence length: 22.0 21.2450331126 104% => OK
Sentence length SD: 26.2302624209 49.2860985944 53% => The essay contains lots of sentences with the similar length. More sentence varieties wanted.
Chars per sentence: 109.666666667 110.228320801 99% => OK
Words per sentence: 22.9333333333 21.698381199 106% => OK
Discourse Markers: 9.26666666667 7.06452816374 131% => OK
Paragraphs: 4.0 4.09492273731 98% => OK
Language errors: 2.0 4.19205298013 48% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 3.0 4.33554083885 69% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 4.0 4.45695364238 90% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 8.0 4.27373068433 187% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.233373179129 0.272083759551 86% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0933352214767 0.0996497079465 94% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.04744833947 0.0662205650399 72% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.146473897098 0.162205337803 90% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0491723906366 0.0443174109184 111% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 12.5 13.3589403974 94% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 57.61 53.8541721854 107% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 5.55761589404 56% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 10.7 11.0289183223 97% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 10.74 12.2367328918 88% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.03 8.42419426049 95% => OK
difficult_words: 72.0 63.6247240618 113% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 10.5 10.7273730684 98% => OK
gunning_fog: 10.8 10.498013245 103% => OK
text_standard: 11.0 11.2008830022 98% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Write the essay in 20 minutes.
Rates: 63.3333333333 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 19.0 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.