Toward the end of his life, the Chevalier de Seingalt (1725−1798) wrote a long memoir recounting his life and adventures. The Chevalier was a somewhat controversial figure, but since he met many famous people, including kings and writers, his memoir has become a valuable historical source about European society in the eighteenth century. However, some critics have raised doubts about the accuracy of the memoir. They claim that the Chevalier distorted or invented many events in the memoir to make his life
seem more exciting and glamorous than it really was. For example, in his memoir the Chevalier claims that while living in Switzerland, he was very wealthy, and it is known that he spent a great deal of money there on parties and gambling. However, evidence has
recently surfaced that the Chevalier borrowed considerable sums of money from a Swiss merchant. Critics thus argue that if the Chevalier had really been very rich, he would not have needed to borrow money. Critics are also skeptical about the accuracy of the conversations that the Chevalier records in the memoir between himself and the famous writer Voltaire. No one doubts that the Chevalier and Voltaire met and conversed. However, critics complain that the memoir cannot possibly capture these conversations accurately, because it was written many years after the conversations occurred. Critics point out that it is impossible to remember exact phrases from extended conversations held many years earlier. Critics have also questioned the memoir’s account of the Chevalier’s escape from a notorious prison in Venice, Italy. He claims to have escaped the Venetian prison by using a piece of metal to make a hole in the ceiling and climbing through the roof. Critics claim that while such a daring escape makes for enjoyable reading, it is more likely that the Chevalier’s jailers were bribed to free him. They point out that the Chevalier had a number of politically well-connected friends in Venice who could have offered a bribe
The lecturer is of the opinion that while no memoir is absolutely accurate, the Chevalier's memoir does hold up as a reliable source of history and is quite accurate, despite what the reading seems to suggest. She thinks so because of several reasons.
First of all, the speaker states that taking a loan from a merchant doesn't indicate that the Chevalier was poor. In Switzerland, the Chevaliers were quite well off, and spent a considerable amount of money on parties and gambling. In order to do so, their assets had to be converted into wealth, which took some time. During this time, the Chevalier would have had to borrow some cash from the Swiss merchant, while waiting for his own money to arrive. This is not a sign of poverty, but only showcases that his own money arrived slightly later. This directly refutes the article, which posits that borrowing money meant that the Chevalier wasn't wealthy.
Secondly, the lecturer mentions how the Chevalier took careful notes of his conversations with Voltaire. Each night, he would come back and write down whatever they had talked about. It is reasonable to assume that the Chevalier must have referred to these carefully preserved notes when he penned down his memoir. Companions who lived with him during the later stages of his life also confirmed that the Chevalier regularly consulted his notes while writing. This is in sharp contrast to the reading passage, which casts doubts about the accuracy of these extended conversations between Voltaire and the Chevalier.
Thirdly, the speaker states that there were many other well-connected prisoners in the same prison as the Chevalier. Despite being more powerful than him, they could never bribe their way out of the notorious jail. However, the hard evidence comes from the prison records which suggest that soon after the Chevalier's daring escape, the ceiling of his prison cell had to be repaired. This gives considerable proof that the series of events that must have transpired is close to the Chevalier's account of them.
All in all, due to the extended time taken to convert his assets into money, his extensive notes on everday conversations, and the repairs of the prison cell from which he escaped, the lecturer finds the Chevalier's memoir to be an accurate and reliable reflection of history.
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 3, column 69, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: doesn't
...ates that taking a loan from a merchant doesnt indicate that the Chevalier was poor. I...
^^^^^^
Line 3, column 641, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: wasn't
...orrowing money meant that the Chevalier wasnt wealthy. Secondly, the lecturer ment...
^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, but, first, however, if, second, secondly, so, third, thirdly, well, while, first of all
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 14.0 10.4613686534 134% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 5.0 5.04856512141 99% => OK
Conjunction : 8.0 7.30242825607 110% => OK
Relative clauses : 19.0 12.0772626932 157% => OK
Pronoun: 40.0 22.412803532 178% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 55.0 30.3222958057 181% => OK
Nominalization: 2.0 5.01324503311 40% => More nominalizations (nouns with a suffix like: tion ment ence ance) wanted.
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1940.0 1373.03311258 141% => OK
No of words: 385.0 270.72406181 142% => Less content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.03896103896 5.08290768461 99% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.4296068528 4.04702891845 109% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.53134973666 2.5805825403 98% => OK
Unique words: 214.0 145.348785872 147% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.555844155844 0.540411800872 103% => OK
syllable_count: 591.3 419.366225166 141% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.55342163355 97% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 10.0 3.25607064018 307% => Less pronouns wanted as sentence beginning.
Article: 10.0 8.23620309051 121% => OK
Subordination: 1.0 1.25165562914 80% => OK
Conjunction: 3.0 1.51434878587 198% => OK
Preposition: 5.0 2.5761589404 194% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 18.0 13.0662251656 138% => OK
Sentence length: 21.0 21.2450331126 99% => OK
Sentence length SD: 50.6866736814 49.2860985944 103% => OK
Chars per sentence: 107.777777778 110.228320801 98% => OK
Words per sentence: 21.3888888889 21.698381199 99% => OK
Discourse Markers: 5.22222222222 7.06452816374 74% => OK
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 : 7.0 4.45695364238 157% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 5.0 4.27373068433 117% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.230032988766 0.272083759551 85% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0697416330601 0.0996497079465 70% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0610192025432 0.0662205650399 92% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.129064493633 0.162205337803 80% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0494154974729 0.0443174109184 112% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 13.0 13.3589403974 97% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 58.62 53.8541721854 109% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 5.55761589404 56% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 10.3 11.0289183223 93% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 11.95 12.2367328918 98% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.37 8.42419426049 99% => OK
difficult_words: 90.0 63.6247240618 141% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 10.5 10.7273730684 98% => OK
gunning_fog: 10.4 10.498013245 99% => OK
text_standard: 11.0 11.2008830022 98% => OK
What are above readability scores?
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Write the essay in 20 minutes.
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.