Essay topics: As early as the twelfth century A.D., the settlements of Chaco Canyon in New Mexico in the American Southwest were notable for their "great houses," massive stone buildings that contain hundreds of rooms and often stand three or fo

Essay topics:

Essay topics: As early as the twelfth century A.D., the settlements of Chaco Canyon in New Mexico in the American Southwest were notable for their "great houses," massive stone buildings that contain hundreds of rooms and often stand three or four stories high. Archaeologists have been trying to determine how the buildings were used. While there is still no universally agreed upon explanation, there are three competing theories.

One theory holds that the Chaco structures were purely residential, with each housing hundreds of people. Supporters of this theory have interpreted Chaco great houses as earlier versions of the architecture seen in more recent Southwest societies. In particular, the Chaco houses appear strikingly similar to the large, well-known "apartment buildings" at Taos, New Mexico, in which many people have been living for centuries.

A second theory contends that the Chaco structures were used to store food supplies. One of the main crops of the Chaco people was grain maize, which could be stored for long periods of time without spoiling and could serve as a long-lasting supply of food. The supplies of maize had to be stored somewhere, and the size of the great houses would make them very suitable for the purpose.

A third theory proposes that houses were used as ceremonial centers. Close to one house, called Pueblo Alto, archaeologists identified an enormous mound formed by a pile of old material. Excavations of the mound revealed deposits containing a surprisingly large number of broken pots. This finding has been interpreted as evidence that people gathered at Pueblo Alto for special ceremonies. At the ceremonies, they ate festive meals and then discarded the pots in which the meals had been prepared or served. Such ceremonies have been documented for other Native American cultures.

The reading and the lecture are both about for what roles great houses used, which are located in Chaco Canyon in new mexico. The author of the reading believes there are three theories about the usage of great houses. The lecturer challenges the statements made by the author. he is of the opinion that none of the theories are convincing.

First of all, the author suggests that great houses were for many people to live there. it is mentioned that the great houses look similar to buildings in new mexico, where lots of people live in. The argument is refuted by the lecturer. he says inside of the great houses there are very few fire places. Furthermore, he argues that in one particle large section of the great houses has only fire places for ten families, yet it has more rooms for over hundred people.

Secondly, the article posits that the great houses were for containing food supplies. The article notes grain maize is main crop of this area and in order to preserve it longer, it needs storage place. Thus, the great houses appear more suitable for this purpose. The lecturer, however, casts doubt on this by asserting that this theory is not supported by evidence. he elaborates on this by mentioning that excavations show that neither maize nor maize containers have been found.

FInally, it is stated in the reading that the houses were used as ritual places. The author establishes that broken pots in mound has been found, indicating people ate in the pots and throw them away during the rituals, and such similar rituals have been observed around other Native American cultures. The lecturer, on the other hand, opposes that in the mound other materials have been found. he puts forth the idea that large quantities of building materials have been found. So it could have been a trash heap of construction materials, and this explains the broken pots as they were trash as well.

Votes
Average: 7 (1 vote)
Essay Categories

Comments

Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 220, Rule ID: ENGLISH_WORD_REPEAT_BEGINNING_RULE
Message: Three successive sentences begin with the same word. Reword the sentence or use a thesaurus to find a synonym.
...eories about the usage of great houses. The lecturer challenges the statements made...
^^^
Line 1, column 279, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: He
...nges the statements made by the author. he is of the opinion that none of the theo...
^^
Line 3, column 89, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: It
...ses were for many people to live there. it is mentioned that the great houses look...
^^
Line 3, column 239, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: He
...he argument is refuted by the lecturer. he says inside of the great houses there a...
^^
Line 3, column 393, Rule ID: HAVE_PART_AGREEMENT[2]
Message: Possible agreement error -- use past participle here: 'fired'.
Suggestion: fired
...ge section of the great houses has only fire places for ten families, yet it has mor...
^^^^
Line 5, column 368, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: He
...is theory is not supported by evidence. he elaborates on this by mentioning that e...
^^
Line 7, column 396, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: He
... mound other materials have been found. he puts forth the idea that large quantit...
^^
Line 7, column 423, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
... been found. he puts forth the idea that large quantities of building materials h...
^^
Line 7, column 605, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...broken pots as they were trash as well.
^^

Transition Words or Phrases used:
finally, first, furthermore, however, look, second, secondly, so, thus, well, first of all, on the other hand

Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments

Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 21.0 10.4613686534 201% => Less to be verbs wanted.
Auxiliary verbs: 1.0 5.04856512141 20% => OK
Conjunction : 7.0 7.30242825607 96% => OK
Relative clauses : 14.0 12.0772626932 116% => OK
Pronoun: 31.0 22.412803532 138% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 37.0 30.3222958057 122% => OK
Nominalization: 4.0 5.01324503311 80% => OK

Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1575.0 1373.03311258 115% => OK
No of words: 329.0 270.72406181 122% => OK
Chars per words: 4.78723404255 5.08290768461 94% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.25891501996 4.04702891845 105% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.28250275579 2.5805825403 88% => OK
Unique words: 170.0 145.348785872 117% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.516717325228 0.540411800872 96% => OK
syllable_count: 486.0 419.366225166 116% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.55342163355 97% => OK

A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 8.0 3.25607064018 246% => Less pronouns wanted as sentence beginning.
Article: 11.0 8.23620309051 134% => OK
Subordination: 0.0 1.25165562914 0% => More adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 3.0 1.51434878587 198% => OK
Preposition: 1.0 2.5761589404 39% => More preposition wanted as sentence beginning.

Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 19.0 13.0662251656 145% => OK
Sentence length: 17.0 21.2450331126 80% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively short.
Sentence length SD: 40.330971444 49.2860985944 82% => OK
Chars per sentence: 82.8947368421 110.228320801 75% => OK
Words per sentence: 17.3157894737 21.698381199 80% => OK
Discourse Markers: 5.73684210526 7.06452816374 81% => OK
Paragraphs: 4.0 4.09492273731 98% => OK
Language errors: 9.0 4.19205298013 215% => Less language errors wanted.
Sentences with positive sentiment : 11.0 4.33554083885 254% => Less positive sentences wanted.
Sentences with negative sentiment : 4.0 4.45695364238 90% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 4.0 4.27373068433 94% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?

Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.147064857753 0.272083759551 54% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0474470099774 0.0996497079465 48% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0496424465526 0.0662205650399 75% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.0931088952037 0.162205337803 57% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.044394838437 0.0443174109184 100% => OK

Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 9.8 13.3589403974 73% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 62.68 53.8541721854 116% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 5.55761589404 56% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 8.7 11.0289183223 79% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 10.21 12.2367328918 83% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 7.94 8.42419426049 94% => OK
difficult_words: 72.0 63.6247240618 113% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 6.0 10.7273730684 56% => Linsear_write_formula is low.
gunning_fog: 8.8 10.498013245 84% => OK
text_standard: 9.0 11.2008830022 80% => OK
What are above readability scores?

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Write the essay in 20 minutes.

Rates: 70.0 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 21.0 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.