Pterosaurs were an ancient group of winged reptiles that lived alongside the dinosaurs. Many pterosaurs were very large, some as large as a giraffe and with a wingspan of over 12 meters. Paleontologists have long wondered whether large pterosaurs were cap

Essay topics:

Pterosaurs were an ancient group of winged reptiles that lived alongside the dinosaurs. Many pterosaurs were very large, some as large as a giraffe and with a wingspan of over 12 meters. Paleontologists have long wondered whether large pterosaurs were capable of powered flight (flying by flapping their wings) or whether they were able only to glide. Several arguments have been made against powered flight.

Doubters point out that since modern reptiles are cold-blooded, ancient reptiles such as pterosaurs were probably cold-blooded as well. Cold-blooded animals typically have a slow metabolism and are unable to produce a lot of energy. Powered flight is an activity requiring a lot of energy, which is why all modern vertebrates that fly are warm-blooded, not cold-blooded. It seemed unlikely that pterosaurs would have been able to generate the energy needed to fly.

Second, there is a limit to the weight of animals that can be kept airborne by powered flight. Pterosaurs that were as large as a giraffe were probably so heavy that they would not have been able to flap their wings fast enough to stay aloft for any length of time.

Third, all animals with powered flight are able to take off from the ground. For example, birds take off by jumping from their legs or running to gain speed and then jumping. But these methods would not have worked for large pterosaurs. Large pterosaurs would have needed big, powerful muscles in their back legs to launch themselves into the air, and we know from fossilized bones that their back leg muscles were too small and weak to allow the pterosaurs to run fast enough or jump high enough to launch themselves into the air.

The reading passage and lecture have conflicting opinions about whether or not pterosaurs would have been able to fly by flapping their wings. The article strongly postulates that there are many assumptions have been made counters that pterosaurs have been able to fly. On the other hand, the listening adamantly delinates that recent researches indicate that pterosaurs support that pterosaurs have been able to fly.

First and foremost, according to the author of the excerpt, pterosaurs wouldn't have enough metabolism to produce the required energy to fly owing to the fact that ancient reptiles were cold-blooded. Which means they wouldn't be able to produce a lot of energy. Nonetheless, the lecture offsets these points by insisting that recent fossils discovery revealed that pterosaurs had dense hairs. Meaning that they were able to maintain their body temperature. Moreover, having dense hair supports that they were warm-blooded. As a result, they were faster and can produce the required energy in order to fly.

On top of this, the professor further points out that pterosaurs weren't heavy because they had unusually hollow light bones. Therefore, their weight was low, thereby keeping them airborne. These claims refute the writer implication of how pterosaurs were heavy, so they couldn't have been able to flap their wing enough to fly.

The article lastly asserts that the pterosaurs didn't have the ability to run fast or jump high enough in order to take them off the ground like birds. The speaker in lecture counters these points by insisting that pterosaurs would have been able to use their 4 legs. Meaning that pterosaur didn't face any problems to run and jump

Votes
Average: 7.3 (1 vote)
Essay Categories

Comments

Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 65, Rule ID: WHETHER[7]
Message: Perhaps you can shorten this phrase to just 'whether'. It is correct though if you mean 'regardless of whether'.
Suggestion: whether
...lecture have conflicting opinions about whether or not pterosaurs would have been able to fly ...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 3, column 72, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: wouldn't
...o the author of the excerpt, pterosaurs wouldnt have enough metabolism to produce the r...
^^^^^^^
Line 3, column 200, Rule ID: SENTENCE_FRAGMENT[1]
Message: “Which” at the beginning of a sentence requires a 2nd clause. Maybe a comma, question or exclamation mark is missing, or the sentence is incomplete and should be joined with the following sentence.
...hat ancient reptiles were cold-blooded. Which means they wouldnt be able to produce a...
^^^^^
Line 3, column 217, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: wouldn't
...les were cold-blooded. Which means they wouldnt be able to produce a lot of energy. Non...
^^^^^^^
Line 3, column 332, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[1]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'fossils'' or 'fossil's'?
Suggestion: fossils'; fossil's
...s these points by insisting that recent fossils discovery revealed that pterosaurs had ...
^^^^^^^
Line 3, column 465, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...intain their body temperature. Moreover, having dense hair supports that they wer...
^^
Line 5, column 66, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: weren't
...ssor further points out that pterosaurs werent heavy because they had unusually hollow...
^^^^^^
Line 5, column 271, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: couldn't
...n of how pterosaurs were heavy, so they couldnt have been able to flap their wing enoug...
^^^^^^^
Line 7, column 48, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: didn't
...icle lastly asserts that the pterosaurs didnt have the ability to run fast or jump hi...
^^^^^
Line 7, column 291, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: didn't
...se their 4 legs. Meaning that pterosaur didnt face any problems to run and jump
^^^^^

Transition Words or Phrases used:
first, lastly, moreover, nonetheless, so, therefore, as a result, on the other hand

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

Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 14.0 10.4613686534 134% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 3.0 5.04856512141 59% => OK
Conjunction : 6.0 7.30242825607 82% => OK
Relative clauses : 15.0 12.0772626932 124% => OK
Pronoun: 31.0 22.412803532 138% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 31.0 30.3222958057 102% => 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: 1418.0 1373.03311258 103% => OK
No of words: 273.0 270.72406181 101% => OK
Chars per words: 5.19413919414 5.08290768461 102% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.06481385082 4.04702891845 100% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.50920830942 2.5805825403 97% => OK
Unique words: 145.0 145.348785872 100% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.531135531136 0.540411800872 98% => OK
syllable_count: 426.6 419.366225166 102% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.55342163355 103% => OK

A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 3.0 3.25607064018 92% => OK
Article: 7.0 8.23620309051 85% => OK
Subordination: 1.0 1.25165562914 80% => OK
Conjunction: 0.0 1.51434878587 0% => OK
Preposition: 3.0 2.5761589404 116% => OK

Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 15.0 13.0662251656 115% => OK
Sentence length: 18.0 21.2450331126 85% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively short.
Sentence length SD: 41.0446910899 49.2860985944 83% => OK
Chars per sentence: 94.5333333333 110.228320801 86% => OK
Words per sentence: 18.2 21.698381199 84% => OK
Discourse Markers: 5.53333333333 7.06452816374 78% => OK
Paragraphs: 4.0 4.09492273731 98% => OK
Language errors: 10.0 4.19205298013 239% => Less language errors wanted.
Sentences with positive sentiment : 9.0 4.33554083885 208% => Less positive sentences wanted.
Sentences with negative sentiment : 2.0 4.45695364238 45% => More negative sentences wanted.
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: 0.242366841914 0.272083759551 89% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0912788146558 0.0996497079465 92% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0489894216745 0.0662205650399 74% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.153387394623 0.162205337803 95% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0242591558482 0.0443174109184 55% => OK

Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 12.1 13.3589403974 91% => 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: 12.82 12.2367328918 105% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.06 8.42419426049 96% => OK
difficult_words: 61.0 63.6247240618 96% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 11.0 10.7273730684 103% => OK
gunning_fog: 9.2 10.498013245 88% => OK
text_standard: 13.0 11.2008830022 116% => OK
What are above readability scores?

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Rates: 73.3333333333 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 22.0 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.