At the end of the Triassic period 200 million years ago, there was a mass-extinction event that caused the extinction of more than half of all living species. It was this extinction event that allowed dinosaurs to become the dominant species for the next 145 million years. We do not know exactly what happened that eliminated so many species in a relatively short period of time, but there are several possible explanations.
One theory involves the decline of sea levels. Near the end of the Triassic period, sea levels were fluctuating. When sea levels fall, the habitats for ocean populations that live in the shallows and land species that live on the coast are destroyed. The destruction of coastal and shallow-ocean species would have had a profound effect on food chains worldwide, leading to mass extinctions.
Another theory involves massive climate cooling. The end of the Triassic period was marked by widespread volcanic activity. The volcanoes released large amounts of sulfur dioxide (SO2). A rise in atmospheric SO2 is known to cause a lowering in global temperatures. Such climate change could have devastated many species and led to the extinctions.
The third theory involves an asteroid strike. Asteroids (objects from outer space) occasionally collide with Earth. When an asteroid hits Earth’s surface, it often displaces large amounts of soil and crushed rock, leaving behind a depression, or crater. The displaced debris is thrown up into the atmosphere where it can block out sunlight for many months or even a few years. A sufficiently massive asteroid impact at the end of the Triassic period may have blocked sunlight long enough for most plants to die and many animal species to then starve.
The reading passage states that there are several possible reasons explanations for the mass extinction at the end of the Triassic period 200 million years ago. The lecture, however, believes that the three reasons are not fully convincing for the mass extinction. And the lecturer casts doubt the main reasons according to the reading passage by giving three arguments.
First of all, the reading passage thinks that the decline of sea levels led to mass extinction. However, the lecturer refutes the idea. She refutes that sea levels changed during the period of Triassic and fluctuated. And it fell often. Thus, the coastal species could adapt to the environment. Besides, the fall is gradual, which took a long time. Taking into this into account, it would be impossible to explain the mass extinctions due to the decline of sea levels.
Secondly, the author of the reading reckons that climate cooling may contribute to mass extinction. Nevertheless, the lecture disputes the argument. She maintains that the climate cooling has remained for a short time. The volcanoes released large amounts of sulfur dioxide which was in the air. But, after several years, aicd would be clean out. And the water would be back. Therefore, it is not likely that the cooling climate resulted in mass extinction.
Finally, the reading passage shows that an asteroid strike made mass extinction. On the other hand, the lecture disputes that
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 7, column 126, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...he other hand, the lecture disputes that
^^^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
besides, but, finally, first, however, may, nevertheless, second, secondly, so, therefore, thus, first of all, on the other hand
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 8.0 10.4613686534 76% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 5.0 5.04856512141 99% => OK
Conjunction : 4.0 7.30242825607 55% => More conjunction wanted.
Relative clauses : 11.0 12.0772626932 91% => OK
Pronoun: 15.0 22.412803532 67% => OK
Preposition: 23.0 30.3222958057 76% => OK
Nominalization: 8.0 5.01324503311 160% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1203.0 1373.03311258 88% => OK
No of words: 233.0 270.72406181 86% => More content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.16309012876 5.08290768461 102% => OK
Fourth root words length: 3.90696013833 4.04702891845 97% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.53143219946 2.5805825403 98% => OK
Unique words: 127.0 145.348785872 87% => More unique words wanted.
Unique words percentage: 0.545064377682 0.540411800872 101% => OK
syllable_count: 354.6 419.366225166 85% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.55342163355 97% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 4.0 3.25607064018 123% => OK
Article: 11.0 8.23620309051 134% => OK
Subordination: 1.0 1.25165562914 80% => OK
Conjunction: 3.0 1.51434878587 198% => OK
Preposition: 2.0 2.5761589404 78% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 19.0 13.0662251656 145% => OK
Sentence length: 12.0 21.2450331126 56% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively short.
Sentence length SD: 33.8813311182 49.2860985944 69% => OK
Chars per sentence: 63.3157894737 110.228320801 57% => More chars_per_sentence wanted.
Words per sentence: 12.2631578947 21.698381199 57% => More words per sentence wanted.
Discourse Markers: 6.73684210526 7.06452816374 95% => OK
Paragraphs: 4.0 4.09492273731 98% => OK
Language errors: 1.0 4.19205298013 24% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 2.0 4.33554083885 46% => More positive sentences wanted.
Sentences with negative sentiment : 4.0 4.45695364238 90% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 13.0 4.27373068433 304% => Less facts, knowledge or examples wanted.
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.172323644003 0.272083759551 63% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0420842699546 0.0996497079465 42% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0736014575065 0.0662205650399 111% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.0943747718545 0.162205337803 58% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0674051868959 0.0443174109184 152% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 9.0 13.3589403974 67% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 67.76 53.8541721854 126% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 5.55761589404 56% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 6.8 11.0289183223 62% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 11.76 12.2367328918 96% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 7.89 8.42419426049 94% => OK
difficult_words: 54.0 63.6247240618 85% => More difficult words wanted.
linsear_write_formula: 6.0 10.7273730684 56% => Linsear_write_formula is low.
gunning_fog: 6.8 10.498013245 65% => OK
text_standard: 7.0 11.2008830022 62% => The average readability is low. Need to imporve the language.
What are above readability scores?
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Rates: 60.0 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 18.0 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.