The following is a letter from a professor at Xanadu College to the college's president.
"The development of an extensive computer-based long-distance learning program will enhance the reputation of Xanadu College. This program would allow more students to enroll in our courses, thereby increasing our income from student tuition. Traditional courses could easily be adapted for distance learners, as was shown by the adaptation of two traditional courses for our distance learning trial project last year. Also, by using computer programs and taped lectures, faculty will have fewer classroom obligations and more time to engage in extensive research, thereby enhancing the reputation of Xanadu." - GRE Argument 79
In this letter a Xanadu College professor asserts that the development of an extensive distance-learning program would enhance the college's reputation, as well as increasing total enrollment and therefore total tuition income. To support this assertion the professor points out that in last year's trial program two traditional courses were easily adapted for distance learning. Next, the professor reasons that with more free time faculty could engage in extensive research, which in turn would enhance the college's reputation. The argument is flawed in several critical respects.
First of all...
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Attribute Value Ideal
Score: 5.0 out of 6
Category: Very Good Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 0 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 0 2
No. of Sentences: 20 15
No. of Words: 473 350
No. of Characters: 2648 1500
No. of Different Words: 200 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.664 4.7
Average Word Length: 5.598 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.921 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 217 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 185 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 125 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 64 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 23.65 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 9.609 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.65 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.383 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.601 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.128 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 6 5