Sea otters are a small mammal that lives in the waters along North America's west coast from California to Alaska. A few years ago some of the sea otter populations off of the Alaskan coast started to decline rapidly and raised several concerns because of their important role in the coastal ecosystem. Experts began investigating and came up with two possible explanations. One explanation was environmental pollution and the second was attacks by predators.
At first it seemed as if the pollution was the most likely cause for the population decline. One reason pollution was more likely was because of the known pollution sources along the Alaskan coast such as oil rigs. Also water samples taken in the area showed increased levels of chemicals that could decrease the otters' immune systems and indirectly result in their deaths.
Another thing that pointed to pollution as the culprit was the decline of other sea mammals such as seals in the same areas. This indicated that whatever was affecting the otters was also affecting the other sea mammals. Environmental pollution usually affects an entire ecosystem instead of just one species. Only predators that occurred in a large area, such as orcas (a large predatory whale), could cause the same effect, but they usually hunt larger prey.
Finally, scientists believed the pollution hypothesis would also explain the uneven pattern of otter decline. In some Alaskan locations the otter population declined greatly while other populations remained stable. Some experts suggested this could be explained by ocean currents, or other environmental factor, might have created uneven concentrations of pollutants along the coast.
The reading and the listening passage discuss the recent decrease of otters in the Alaska community. While the reading passage supports the idea that the main cause is pollution, the author of the listening passage claims three arguments supporting the idea of predation.
To begin with, water samples of the ecosystem presents concentrations of chemicals that affect the immune system of the otters, causing their death. However, according to the writer, pollution is the main reason for the deaths, insomuch as the body remains would be seen on the shore of the beaches, and that’s not the case. Hence, the predator hypothesis is more believable.
Moreover, the reading passage suggests that pollution affects an entire ecosystem. This fact supports the idea that not only colonies of otters have been affected, but other kinds of mammals, such as seals. Nevertheless, the lecturer claims that due to the increase of human hunt, orcas have adjusted their diet, and as a consequence, started hunting otters and other sort of animals.
Finally, the author argues that the main cause of the uneven patterns is due to climate change and ocean currents, thereby scientists have found chemical concentrations in uncommon places. Although, the lecturer refutes that idea, suggesting that otter communities where orcas have no access are totally stable.
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 3, column 1, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...ts supporting the idea of predation. To begin with, water samples of the ecos...
^^^^^
Line 7, column 1, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...dator hypothesis is more believable. Moreover, the reading passage suggests t...
^^^^^
Line 11, column 1, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...ng otters and other sort of animals. Finally, the author argues that the main...
^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
but, finally, hence, however, moreover, nevertheless, so, while, sort of, such as, to begin with
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 7.0 10.4613686534 67% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 1.0 5.04856512141 20% => OK
Conjunction : 6.0 7.30242825607 82% => OK
Relative clauses : 10.0 12.0772626932 83% => OK
Pronoun: 12.0 22.412803532 54% => OK
Preposition: 20.0 30.3222958057 66% => OK
Nominalization: 5.0 5.01324503311 100% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1157.0 1373.03311258 84% => OK
No of words: 214.0 270.72406181 79% => More content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.40654205607 5.08290768461 106% => OK
Fourth root words length: 3.82475343497 4.04702891845 95% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.63907842084 2.5805825403 102% => OK
Unique words: 128.0 145.348785872 88% => More unique words wanted.
Unique words percentage: 0.598130841121 0.540411800872 111% => OK
syllable_count: 345.6 419.366225166 82% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.55342163355 103% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 1.0 3.25607064018 31% => OK
Article: 7.0 8.23620309051 85% => 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: 10.0 13.0662251656 77% => Need more sentences. Double check the format of sentences, make sure there is a space between two sentences, or have enough periods. And also check the lengths of sentences, maybe they are too long.
Sentence length: 21.0 21.2450331126 99% => OK
Sentence length SD: 43.9159424355 49.2860985944 89% => OK
Chars per sentence: 115.7 110.228320801 105% => OK
Words per sentence: 21.4 21.698381199 99% => OK
Discourse Markers: 9.6 7.06452816374 136% => OK
Paragraphs: 4.0 4.09492273731 98% => OK
Language errors: 3.0 4.19205298013 72% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 4.0 4.33554083885 92% => OK
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: 0.0630412423994 0.272083759551 23% => The similarity between the topic and the content is low.
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0262545908671 0.0996497079465 26% => Sentence topic similarity is low.
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0307405384494 0.0662205650399 46% => Sentences are similar to each other.
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.0364471773055 0.162205337803 22% => Maybe some paragraphs are off the topic.
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0175954809361 0.0443174109184 40% => 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: 14.8 13.3589403974 111% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 50.16 53.8541721854 93% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 5.55761589404 56% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 11.5 11.0289183223 104% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 14.1 12.2367328918 115% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 9.99 8.42419426049 119% => OK
difficult_words: 72.0 63.6247240618 113% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 13.5 10.7273730684 126% => OK
gunning_fog: 10.4 10.498013245 99% => OK
text_standard: 10.0 11.2008830022 89% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
It is not exactly right on the topic in the view of e-grader. Maybe there is a wrong essay topic.
Rates: 3.33333333333 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 1.0 Out of 30
---------------------
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.