The following appeared as part of an article in the business section of a local newspaper:
“Motorcycle X has been manufactured in the United States for more than 70 years. Although one foreign company has copied the motorcycle and is selling it for less, the company has failed to attract motorcycle X customers—some say because its product lacks the exceptionally loud noise made by motorcycle X. But there must be some other explanation. After all, foreign cars tend to be quieter than similar American-made cars, but they sell at least as well. Also, television advertisements for motorcycle X highlight its durability and sleek lines, not its noisiness, and the ads typically have voice-overs or rock music rather than engine-roar on the sound track.”
Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. In your discussion be sure to analyze the line of reasoning and the use of evidence in the argument. For example, you may need to consider what questionable assumptions underlie the thinking and what alternative explanations or counter examples might weaken the conclusion. You can also discuss what sort of evidence would strengthen or refute the argument, what changes in the argument would make it more logically sound, and what, if anything, would help you better evaluate its conclusion.
The author claims that American-made Motorcycle X which has been copied by a foreign company is not selling as well primarily due to the exceptionally loud noise that is characteristic of motorcycle X. The author goes on to substantiate that this is not typical as foreign cars tend to be quieter compared to American cars but they sell as well. There are several flaws in the argument presented by the author.
Firstly, Motorcycle X is likely an American household name seeing as it has been manufactured in the United States for more than 70 years. It may very well be an internationally recognized brand. Any potential market entrant would need to surpass the reputation that Motorcycle X's company has built up through the years to even pose a competition to the sales of Motorcycle X. The foreign company may very well have lost out significantly based on this one advantage that motorcycle X's company has. The author should find out if historically there have been other companies trying to mimic the same product but are unable to gain foothold in the market, and the reasons behind them.
Secondly, the author's main comparison is with foreign cars. This is akin to comparing apples to oranges. Consumers of quiet foreign cars may very well be a different group compared to consumers of motorcycles. Motorcyclists may by far and large wish for their motorcycles to be the loudest in the industry. Hence these two groups are not comparable in the beginning and to see the consumer pool of motorcycles and cars as one entity is a grave oversight. The comparison should be with how foreign motorcycles are made and what are the popular models generally.
The author also bases the failure of the foreign company to attract motorcycle X customers by throwing out a claim made by an anonymous group of people. This group of people may not be representative of the customers of motorcycle X but the general public which may have no interest in motorcycles whatsoever. In this case, the author should be doing proper market research to ensure that the group that was surveyed have knowledge of both motorcycle X and the foreign company's copy to be able to objectively compare both of them. Objective reasons by the public, experts in motorcycles, avid fans and customers of Motorcycle X would give the author a better idea as to where the foreign company's product might be losing out on.
The author then proceeds to highlight that the television advertisements showcases Motorcycle X's durability and sleek lines instead of its engine-roar. This brings to mind similar advertisements by makers of sports cars or motorcycles. Cars such as Ferrari or Lamborghini do not need to use engine sounds to attract customers. The engine roar in this case may very well be anticipated. Hence their advertisements focus more on the sleekness and aesthetic appeal of the vehicle. Motorcycle X may be taking a similar approach in not using it's engine-roar as a means to attract customers. Instead, Motorcycle X is focusing more on its aesthetic build. The foreign company's copy may be focussing on the silence of the engine instead of the aesthetic appeal hence not attracting potential consumers. To know why the foreign company's advertisements may not be working will require study into what was the actual advertisement put up.
Overall, the author's conclusion is baseless as the majority of the claims remain unsubstantiated with hard evidence or proper market research. The author seems to be making hasty generalizations and jumping to conclusions without performing due diligence in investigating and studying both companies and the market conditions. The arguments put forth would be stronger had the author backed it up with conclusive and reasonable evidence.
| Post date | Users | Rates | Link to Content |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-08-12 | shavak1997 | 58 | view |
| 2020-07-19 | legitthinker | 72 | view |
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Comments
e-rater score report
Attribute Value Ideal
Final score: 4.0 out of 6
Category: Good Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 0 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 0 2
No. of Sentences: 28 15
No. of Words: 622 350
No. of Characters: 3102 1500
No. of Different Words: 278 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.994 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.987 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.971 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 227 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 172 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 121 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 96 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 22.214 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 12.111 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.679 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.293 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.508 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.09 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 6 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 5, column 308, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: Hence,
...cles to be the loudest in the industry. Hence these two groups are not comparable in ...
^^^^^
Line 7, column 242, Rule ID: GENERAL_XX[1]
Message: Use simply 'public'.
Suggestion: public
...f the customers of motorcycle X but the general public which may have no interest in motorcycl...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 9, column 387, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: Hence,
...this case may very well be anticipated. Hence their advertisements focus more on the ...
^^^^^
Line 11, column 14, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[1]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'authors'' or 'author's'?
Suggestion: authors'; author's
...l advertisement put up. Overall, the authors conclusion is baseless as the majority ...
^^^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, but, first, firstly, hence, if, may, second, secondly, so, then, well, as for, as to, such as
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 34.0 19.6327345309 173% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 20.0 12.9520958084 154% => OK
Conjunction : 19.0 11.1786427146 170% => OK
Relative clauses : 11.0 13.6137724551 81% => OK
Pronoun: 27.0 28.8173652695 94% => OK
Preposition: 85.0 55.5748502994 153% => OK
Nominalization: 8.0 16.3942115768 49% => More nominalizations (nouns with a suffix like: tion ment ence ance) wanted.
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 3148.0 2260.96107784 139% => OK
No of words: 622.0 441.139720559 141% => Less content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.06109324759 5.12650576532 99% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.99398916966 4.56307096286 109% => OK
Word Length SD: 3.01429581493 2.78398813304 108% => OK
Unique words: 285.0 204.123752495 140% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.458199356913 0.468620217663 98% => OK
syllable_count: 990.9 705.55239521 140% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.59920159681 100% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 4.0 4.96107784431 81% => OK
Article: 14.0 8.76447105788 160% => OK
Subordination: 0.0 2.70958083832 0% => More adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 1.0 1.67365269461 60% => OK
Preposition: 2.0 4.22255489022 47% => More preposition wanted as sentence beginning.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 30.0 19.7664670659 152% => OK
Sentence length: 20.0 22.8473053892 88% => OK
Sentence length SD: 47.6228236598 57.8364921388 82% => OK
Chars per sentence: 104.933333333 119.503703932 88% => OK
Words per sentence: 20.7333333333 23.324526521 89% => OK
Discourse Markers: 3.3 5.70786347227 58% => More transition words/phrases wanted.
Paragraphs: 6.0 5.15768463074 116% => OK
Language errors: 4.0 5.25449101796 76% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 15.0 8.20758483034 183% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 6.0 6.88822355289 87% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 9.0 4.67664670659 192% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.23219370444 0.218282227539 106% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0686667076813 0.0743258471296 92% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.074316463112 0.0701772020484 106% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.133988313284 0.128457276422 104% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0846388530874 0.0628817314937 135% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 12.8 14.3799401198 89% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 51.18 48.3550499002 106% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.1628742515 123% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 11.1 12.197005988 91% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.07 12.5979740519 96% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.03 8.32208582834 96% => OK
difficult_words: 134.0 98.500998004 136% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 12.0 12.3882235529 97% => OK
gunning_fog: 10.0 11.1389221557 90% => OK
text_standard: 12.0 11.9071856287 101% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Write the essay in 30 minutes.
Rates: 54.17 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 3.25 Out of 6
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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.