The following appeared in an article in a travel magazine:
"After the airline industry began requiring airlines to report their on-time rates, Speedee Airlines achieved the number one on-time rate, with over 89 percent of its flights arriving on time each month. And now Speedee is offering more flights to more destinations than ever before. Clearly, Speedee is the best choice for today's business traveler."
The author of the argument has failed to convince us that Speedee Airlines is the best choice for today's business traveler. The argument, as it stands, is based on questionable assumptions and a faulty line of reasoning, a fact which renders it over simplistic and unconvincing.
First of all, even if we take for granted the validity of the data provided, the author assumes that the figure of 89 percent of flights arriving on time each month is a convincing one. Yet, a percentage figure could be misleading. We need to know the total number of flights operated by Speedee Airlines and therefor...
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- Argument Topic: "The following is taken from a memo from the advertising director of the Super Screen Movie Production Company. "According to a recent report from our marketing department, during the past year, fewer people attended Super Screen-produced 50
- Twenty years ago, Dr. Field, a noted anthropologist, visited the island of Tertia. Using an observation-centered approach to studying Tertian culture, he concluded from his observations that children in Tertia were reared by an entire village rather than 80
- The following appeared in a letter from a firm providing investment advice for a client."Most homes in the northeastern United States, where winters are typically cold, have traditionally used oil as their major fuel for heating. Last heating season that 90
Comments
Why can't this essay get a 6?
Why can't this essay get a 6? Where is the fault?
argument 1 -- OK
argument 2 -- OK
argument 3 -- OK
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Attribute Value Ideal
Score: 5.5 out of 6
Category: Excellent Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 0 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 0 2
No. of Sentences: 17 15
No. of Words: 424 350
No. of Characters: 2102 1500
No. of Different Words: 205 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.538 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.958 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.663 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 168 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 132 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 80 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 40 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 24.941 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 11.558 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.706 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.342 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.578 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.145 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5