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 capabl

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.

Both the article and the lecture deal with the debate whether Pterosaurs can achieve powered flight. While the author of the reading thinks that three specific problems faced with the question, the lecturer opposes the author's claim. In his opinion, some recent evidence supports the claim.

To begin with, the writer argues that just like modern reptiles, Pterosaurs are cold-blooded. Additionally, he maintains that since powered flight requires abundant energy, considering all today's flying vertebrates are warm-blooded, pterosaurs fail to produce enough energy. In contrast, the lecturer claims that the unearthed fossil connotes that there are hair-like feature, maybe fur, covering Pterosaurs, which is a typical characteristic of warm-blooded animals. As a result, pterosaurs indeed have a swift metabolism and generate adequate energy.

Secondly, the author mentions that maintaining aloft pose a restriction to the weight of animals. Considering Pterosaurs' gigantic size, they are unable to flap wings fast to remain airborne. The lecturer, however, calls this into argument by saying that Pterosaurs actually have relatively low weight despite outrageous figure. Their bones are hollow thus reduce the weight, making it possible to stay float in the air for some time.

Finally, the writer asserts that taking birds for example, animals with powered flight have to launch into air by either running fast or jumping high. The author points out that if pterosaurs want to take off from the ground, it is necessary to develop big and powerful muscles in back legs, which is opposite to the reality. In contrast, the lecturer's position is that unlike birds, Pterosaurs can use their all four limbs to bolster the the launching process. With four instead of two legs, they can push off into the air by relatively weak muscles without strenuous effort.

Votes
Average: 8 (1 vote)
Essay Categories

Comments

Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 3, column 369, Rule ID: THERE_RE_MANY[3]
Message: Possible agreement error. Did you mean 'features'?
Suggestion: features
...ossil connotes that there are hair-like feature, maybe fur, covering Pterosaurs, which ...
^^^^^^^
Line 7, column 436, Rule ID: ENGLISH_WORD_REPEAT_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a word
Suggestion: the
...can use their all four limbs to bolster the the launching process. With four instead of...
^^^^^^^
Line 7, column 436, Rule ID: DT_DT[1]
Message: Maybe you need to remove one determiner so that only 'the' or 'the' is left.
Suggestion: the; the
...can use their all four limbs to bolster the the launching process. With four instead of...
^^^^^^^

Transition Words or Phrases used:
actually, finally, however, if, may, second, secondly, so, thus, while, for example, in contrast, as a result, to begin with

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

Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 9.0 10.4613686534 86% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 3.0 5.04856512141 59% => OK
Conjunction : 4.0 7.30242825607 55% => More conjunction wanted.
Relative clauses : 12.0 12.0772626932 99% => OK
Pronoun: 19.0 22.412803532 85% => OK
Preposition: 43.0 30.3222958057 142% => OK
Nominalization: 5.0 5.01324503311 100% => OK

Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1581.0 1373.03311258 115% => OK
No of words: 290.0 270.72406181 107% => OK
Chars per words: 5.45172413793 5.08290768461 107% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.12666770723 4.04702891845 102% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.65836127363 2.5805825403 103% => OK
Unique words: 182.0 145.348785872 125% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.627586206897 0.540411800872 116% => OK
syllable_count: 473.4 419.366225166 113% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.55342163355 103% => OK

A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 5.0 3.25607064018 154% => OK
Article: 8.0 8.23620309051 97% => OK
Subordination: 2.0 1.25165562914 160% => OK
Conjunction: 0.0 1.51434878587 0% => OK
Preposition: 7.0 2.5761589404 272% => Less preposition wanted as sentence beginnings.

Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 15.0 13.0662251656 115% => OK
Sentence length: 19.0 21.2450331126 89% => OK
Sentence length SD: 37.6061460698 49.2860985944 76% => OK
Chars per sentence: 105.4 110.228320801 96% => OK
Words per sentence: 19.3333333333 21.698381199 89% => OK
Discourse Markers: 8.26666666667 7.06452816374 117% => OK
Paragraphs: 4.0 4.09492273731 98% => OK
Language errors: 3.0 4.19205298013 72% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 3.0 4.33554083885 69% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 6.0 4.45695364238 135% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 6.0 4.27373068433 140% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?

Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.144997885196 0.272083759551 53% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0511828217322 0.0996497079465 51% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0377436444211 0.0662205650399 57% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.0874191546731 0.162205337803 54% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.00983824065291 0.0443174109184 22% => Paragraphs are similar to each other. Some content may get duplicated or it is not exactly right on the topic.

Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 13.9 13.3589403974 104% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 52.19 53.8541721854 97% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 5.55761589404 56% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 10.7 11.0289183223 97% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 14.33 12.2367328918 117% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 9.42 8.42419426049 112% => OK
difficult_words: 89.0 63.6247240618 140% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 8.0 10.7273730684 75% => OK
gunning_fog: 9.6 10.498013245 91% => OK
text_standard: 10.0 11.2008830022 89% => OK
What are above readability scores?

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Rates: 80.0 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 24.0 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.