The council of Maple County, concerned about the county's becoming overdeveloped, is debating a proposed measure that would prevent the development of existing farmland in the county. But the council is also concerned that such a restriction, by limiting

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The council of Maple County, concerned about the county's becoming overdeveloped, is debating a proposed measure that would prevent the development of existing farmland in the county. But the council is also concerned that such a restriction, by limiting the supply of new housing, could lead to significant increases in the price of housing in the county. Proponents of the measure note that Chestnut County established a similar measure ten years ago, and its housing prices have increased only modestly since. However, opponents of the measure note that Pine County adopted restrictions on the development of new residential housing fifteen years ago, and its housing prices have since more than doubled. The council currently predicts that the proposed measure, if passed, will result in a significant increase in housing prices in Maple County.

Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the prediction and the argument on which it is based are reasonable. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the prediction.

The council of Maple county concerns the problem of overdevelopment of farmlands in the region. There is a suggestion how to prevent the farmlands from overdevelopment - is to implement the restriction of new houses building. However, the council worries that such policy will lead to significant increase of housing prices. The argument explores two different experiences in two distinct counties, which had contrast results. However, in order to find the truth, the council should ask some question about the experience of two mentioned counties. Otherwise, he or she seriously ventures to implement a wrong policy.

The first question that should be asked is the question about Chestnut county. The passage states that this county implemented restriction policy ten year ago and the housing prices increased modestly since that time. However, the given fact could be easily misleading for the logic and coherence of the passage. In order to avoid it, the question should be answered - is it even reasonable to compare two different counties? Probably, Maple and Chestnut counties have steep difference between each other. For example, Maple county is the fast developing region with the great financial potential, when Maple county has some financial troubles, and, consequently, the restriction policy did not affect, because there was not a high demand for new housing. So, the question should be answered firstly.

The second qustion is about Pine county. Even if the Pine and Maple counties have the same financial potential and readings, it is not clear whether such policy will work today. The passage states that it was implemented fifteen years ago, and housing prices increased in two times. There is no doubt that such a long time span matters, and it is not reasonable to compare situations in two different periods. Hence, the qestion should be answered. Otherwise, the coherency of the passage will be undermined.

The last and the most important question is about the high and stable demand for new houses in Maple, because, it is the main factor of the price increasing, if the region has the lowest demand for new houses, the restirction policy will not affect at all. Consequently, if this question is not answered, the council's concerns are baseless.

To sum up, the given argument has serious flaws in its logic, because it does not explicitly state the real situation in counties, and so, it is not clear how the restriction policy will affect.

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Average: 7 (2 votes)
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Comments

Sentence: The second qustion is about Pine county.
Error: qustion Suggestion: question

Sentence: Hence, the qestion should be answered.
Error: qestion Suggestion: question

Sentence: Otherwise, the coherency of the passage will be undermined.
Error: coherency Suggestion: coherence

Sentence: The last and the most important question is about the high and stable demand for new houses in Maple, because, it is the main factor of the price increasing, if the region has the lowest demand for new houses, the restirction policy will not affect at all.
Error: restirction Suggestion: restriction

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argument 1 -- OK

argument 2 -- OK

argument 3 -- OK
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flaws:
The arguments are correct, but can be developed better. read a sample:
http://www.testbig.com/gmatgre-argument-task-essays/council-maple-count…

Attribute Value Ideal
Final score: 4.0 out of 6
Category: Good Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 0 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 4 2
No. of Sentences: 22 15
No. of Words: 401 350
No. of Characters: 2008 1500
No. of Different Words: 177 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.475 4.7
Average Word Length: 5.007 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.643 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 154 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 114 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 81 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 47 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 18.227 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 10.256 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.591 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.299 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.485 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.047 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5