Machu Picchu is a 15th century Inca citadel situated in the Andean Mountains of Peru This ancient site has puzzled historians and archaeologists for centuries with many theories proposed as to its purpose Over the years archaeologists have put forth three | TOEFL IELTS GMAT GRE SAT ACT PTE ESL

Essay topics:

Machu Picchu is a 15th-century Inca citadel situated in the Andean Mountains of Peru. This ancient site has puzzled historians and archaeologists for centuries, with many theories proposed as to its purpose. Over the years, archaeologists have put forth three possible reasons for the construction of Machu Picchu.

One possibility is that Machu Picchu was built as a permanent royal estate for the Inca emperor, Pachacuti. As the ruler of a major empire, Pachacuti would have needed a luxurious and impressive residence. Located at the top of a mountain, with breathtaking views of the surrounding landscape, Machu Picchu would have been an ideal location for such a residence. Anyone coming to meet with the emperor would have been impressed by his apparent power and wealth. This feature might have helped him to maintain his rule over the people of the region.

Another theory is that Machu Picchu was built as a ceremonial and religious center. The Inca were a deeply religious people, and their empire was filled with temples and shrines dedicated to their gods and goddesses. It is possible that Machu Picchu is just another shrine, albeit a very large one. With its impressive stonework and intricate carvings, it may have been built as a sacred site for religious ceremonies and rituals.

A third possibility is that Machu Picchu was built as a defensive fortress. Located at the top of a mountain and surrounded by steep cliffs, the site would have been very difficult to access, but easy to defend. This strategic location, combined with the strong walls and terraces of the citadel, would have made Machu Picchu a perfect military stronghold. Invading armies would have found it a very challenging target. Consequently, in times of invasion or domestic unrest, the Inca armies could have retreated to the fortress for safety.

Listening
The author’s ideas about the purpose of Machu Picchu are certainly interesting, but each of them has a few flaws.

A problem with the idea of Machu Picchu as a royal residence is its remoteness. While the site is located in a beautiful area, it’s far from the center of the Inca empire and would have been difficult to access. This would have made it impractical as a residence for the emperor, who probably needed to be close to the political and administrative centers of the empire. For this reason, the site may have been a temporary vacation home for the emperor, rather than a full-time residence.

Next. While the idea that Machu Picchu was built as a ceremonial and religious center is a popular theory, it is not without its flaws. One challenge to this idea is the lack of evidence of religious activity at the site. While the citadel contains impressive stonework and many elaborate carvings, there are no clear indications that it was used for religious ceremonies or rituals. In contrast, other Inca sites, such as the Temple of the Sun in Cusco, contain clear evidence of religious activity, including altars, offerings, and other religious artifacts.

Lastly, it is difficult to claim that Machu Picchu was built as a defensive fortress. While the citadel contains strong walls and terraces, there are no clear indications that it was used for military purposes. Very few actual weapons or military tools have been found there. The Inca were known for their elaborate military practices, and the remains of their soldiers and weapons have been found at many other Inca sites. The absence of clear signs of military activity at Machu Picchu suggests that it was not used for defensive purposes.

The reading and the lecturer are about possibility purposes for the construction of Machu Picchu. The writer believes there are three possible reasons for the construction of Machu Picchu. The speaker in the listening passage disagrees. He claims there are some flaws in each of the writer’s points.

First, the article posits that Machu Picchu was built as a permanent royal estate for the Inca emperor, Pachacuti. Additionally, it says that ideal location for such a residence. However, the professor points out that it was far from the center of the empire. It may be temporary use for vacation but not as a permanent resident.

Also, the author notes that it was built as a ceremonial and religious center. There are impressive stonework and intricate carvings as a sanctified site. The lecture rebuts this argument. He says that there is lack of religious activity evidence. Other building like temple of the sun, have clear evidence things like religious artifacts.

Another reason the writer feels that it was built as a defensive castle. There was top of mountain and surrounded by steep cliffs. This site structure is difficult to access. Again, the speaker holds there are flaws in this argument. He suggests that there are strong walls, but not use for military purpose. There are few evidence actual weapons or tools of military found. There is no evidence of the military activity.

To sum up, both the author and the lecturer hold conflicting views about uses for the construction of Machu Picchu.

Votes

Essay Categories

Integrated TOEFL Writing

Comments

Essay evaluations by e-grader

Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 190, 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.
...s for the construction of Machu Picchu. The speaker in the listening passage disagr...
^^^
Line 7, column 320, Rule ID: MANY_NN_U[6]
Message: Possible agreement error. The noun evidence seems to be uncountable; consider using: 'little evidence'.
Suggestion: little evidence
...not use for military purpose. There are few evidence actual weapons or tools of military fou...
^^^^^^^^^^^^

Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, but, first, however, if, may, so, as to, to sum up

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

Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 16.0 10.4613686534 153% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 1.0 5.04856512141 20% => OK
Conjunction : 8.0 7.30242825607 110% => OK
Relative clauses : 7.0 12.0772626932 58% => More relative clauses wanted.
Pronoun: 18.0 22.412803532 80% => OK
Preposition: 23.0 30.3222958057 76% => OK
Nominalization: 12.0 5.01324503311 239% => Less nominalizations (nouns with a suffix like: tion ment ence ance) wanted.

Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1279.0 1373.03311258 93% => OK
No of words: 251.0 270.72406181 93% => More content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.09561752988 5.08290768461 100% => OK
Fourth root words length: 3.98032404683 4.04702891845 98% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.64042753916 2.5805825403 102% => OK
Unique words: 137.0 145.348785872 94% => More unique words wanted.
Unique words percentage: 0.545816733068 0.540411800872 101% => OK
syllable_count: 400.5 419.366225166 96% => 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: 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: 21.0 13.0662251656 161% => OK
Sentence length: 11.0 21.2450331126 52% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively short.
Sentence length SD: 21.2623180251 49.2860985944 43% => The essay contains lots of sentences with the similar length. More sentence varieties wanted.
Chars per sentence: 60.9047619048 110.228320801 55% => More chars_per_sentence wanted.
Words per sentence: 11.9523809524 21.698381199 55% => More words per sentence wanted.
Discourse Markers: 2.66666666667 7.06452816374 38% => More transition words/phrases wanted.
Paragraphs: 5.0 4.09492273731 122% => OK
Language errors: 2.0 4.19205298013 48% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 6.0 4.33554083885 138% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 8.0 4.45695364238 179% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 7.0 4.27373068433 164% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?

Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.136942505448 0.272083759551 50% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0383176319326 0.0996497079465 38% => Sentence topic similarity is low.
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0423620978549 0.0662205650399 64% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.0756478430739 0.162205337803 47% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0269283730651 0.0443174109184 61% => OK

Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 8.6 13.3589403974 64% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 60.31 53.8541721854 112% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 5.55761589404 56% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 7.6 11.0289183223 69% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 11.41 12.2367328918 93% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.27 8.42419426049 98% => OK
difficult_words: 65.0 63.6247240618 102% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 5.5 10.7273730684 51% => Linsear_write_formula is low.
gunning_fog: 6.4 10.498013245 61% => OK
text_standard: 9.0 11.2008830022 80% => OK
What are above readability scores?

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Rates: 78.3333333333 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 23.5 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.

Essay evaluations by e-grader

Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, but, first, however, if, may, so, as to, to sum up

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