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 professor starts by saying that no memoir is completely accurate but she believes that the memoir of Chevalier de Seingalt was fairly accurate and can be used as a historical source. Though some critics disagree she is convinced that memoir is accurate about its detail and has given considerable amount of proof in her lecture.
While living in Switzerland the Chevalier mentions that he would indulge in extravagant acts like parties and gambling. The new evidence suggests that the Chevalier did in fact borrow money from Swiss merchants does not necessarily mean that he was poor. The professor suggest in her lecture that this might be due to he was short on cash and his other assets like houses, farms, etc would take time to liquidate he would borrow money from merchants for a short amount of time and then pay back later. Her theory is logical and sound.
Secondly, the critics disagree that the conversations with Voltaire are true, because the Chevalier had written them years after the actual conversation happened. The professor puts forward the fact that the Chevalier would dutifully make notes of his entire conversations with Voltaire, and this is confirmed by eyewitnesses who saw the Chevalier refer to journals and notes while writing his memoir.
The final piece is the account of the dramatic jailbreak from Venice where he used a piece of metal to create a hole in the ceiling of his prison cell and escaped. Such an account, at first might seem hard to believe, but it might actually be true as professor points out in her lecture that some Italian government records dating back to that time shows repairs being carried out to the ceiling of the very same cell in which Chevalier was imprisoned.
Though, it may seem over the top, on the outset, the Professor is convinced that the memoirs of the Chevalier are accurate and can be used as a historical reference for eighteenth century Europe.
Transition Words or Phrases used:
actually, but, first, if, may, second, secondly, so, then, while, in fact
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 18.0 10.4613686534 172% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 10.0 5.04856512141 198% => OK
Conjunction : 12.0 7.30242825607 164% => OK
Relative clauses : 15.0 12.0772626932 124% => OK
Pronoun: 33.0 22.412803532 147% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 41.0 30.3222958057 135% => OK
Nominalization: 4.0 5.01324503311 80% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1607.0 1373.03311258 117% => OK
No of words: 328.0 270.72406181 121% => OK
Chars per words: 4.8993902439 5.08290768461 96% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.25567506705 4.04702891845 105% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.56124962239 2.5805825403 99% => OK
Unique words: 176.0 145.348785872 121% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.536585365854 0.540411800872 99% => OK
syllable_count: 491.4 419.366225166 117% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.55342163355 97% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 2.0 3.25607064018 61% => OK
Article: 7.0 8.23620309051 85% => OK
Subordination: 3.0 1.25165562914 240% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 2.0 1.51434878587 132% => OK
Preposition: 2.0 2.5761589404 78% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 11.0 13.0662251656 84% => 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: 29.0 21.2450331126 137% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively long.
Sentence length SD: 66.57376447 49.2860985944 135% => OK
Chars per sentence: 146.090909091 110.228320801 133% => OK
Words per sentence: 29.8181818182 21.698381199 137% => OK
Discourse Markers: 6.63636363636 7.06452816374 94% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 4.09492273731 122% => OK
Language errors: 0.0 4.19205298013 0% => 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: 2.0 4.27373068433 47% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.199391097018 0.272083759551 73% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0745542404754 0.0996497079465 75% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0520427343617 0.0662205650399 79% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.107813577781 0.162205337803 66% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0339292157165 0.0443174109184 77% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 16.6 13.3589403974 124% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 50.5 53.8541721854 94% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 5.55761589404 158% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 13.4 11.0289183223 121% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 11.73 12.2367328918 96% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.44 8.42419426049 100% => OK
difficult_words: 70.0 63.6247240618 110% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 11.0 10.7273730684 103% => OK
gunning_fog: 13.6 10.498013245 130% => OK
text_standard: 14.0 11.2008830022 125% => 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.