The following appeared in a memorandum from the owner of Armchair Video, a chain of video rental stores.
"Because of declining profits, we must reduce operating expenses at Armchair Video's ten video rental stores. Raising prices is not a good option, since we are famous for our special bargains. Instead, we should reduce our operating hours. Last month our store in downtown Marston reduced its hours by closing at 6:00 P.M. rather than 9:00 P.M. and reduced its overall inventory by no longer stocking any film released more than two years ago. Since we have received very few customer complaints about these new policies, we should now adopt them at all other Armchair Video stores as our best strategies for improving profits."
The above argument made by the owner of Armchair Video consists of a number of overlooked flaws. The suggestion made for enhancing the profits has been based on several unwarranted assumptions, which if proved otherwise, would seriously impair the argument. Besides, the lack of sufficient evidence or supporting data undermines the cogency of the argument.
To begin with, the owner seemingly ignores the possibility of optimizing the operating expenses to compensate the losses, by employing more economic methods for the same. This can be brought about by prudent management of resources, employees, and contacts. Instead of resorting to reduce operating hours, judicious management strategies to curtail the operating expenses could have been explored. The owner fails to discern that reducing the working hours or increasing the prices could both distance the customers, which in turn would jeopardize the profit.
Furthermore, there is no evidence to suggest that the declining profits are brought about by higher operating expenses alone. It is possible that despite the special bargains, the video quality of the company has been deteriorating as a result of which, there is a dent in the sales. There might similarly be other factors for reduced sales, such as poor customer service, etc. If indeed such circumstances prevail, then profits cannot be expected to rise by only reducing the operating hours. Instead, thorough quality checks or other innovations would be more helpful to enhance the profitability.
The owner cites an example of one of their stores in Marston that witnessed fewer customer complaints after implementing the policy of reduced working hours. However, the author overlooks certain crucial factors that might have lead to the same. First, because of the reduced hours, the store might have actually recieved fewer customers than usual. Apparently, this would imply fewer complaints than usual. Second, lack in collection of films older than two years might be another reason of reduced customers, who would have bought these movies. Either way, the owner fails to consider the fact that reduction in customers might actually be the reason of lesser complaints in the Marston store. Besides, the lack of mention of whether the profits have increased due to the new policy, leaves one dubious regarding the efficacity of the policy. Furthermore, even if the store had more profits due to the policies, even then it is never guranteed that other Armchair Vedio stores in all the rest of the places would have similar rates of success. Every other place might have different types of customer behavior or requirements and hence, by employing one strategy for all places might not yield equal profits. Thus, the whole idea of increasing the profitability needs more deliberation and analysis to implement.
All in all, the argument is wanting of several factors. The owner ignores critical points while examining the profitability of the stores. Had the owner provided convincing evidences corroborating the strategy suggested for increasing profits, the argument would have been cogent and sound.
- The widespread use of the internet has given people access to information on a level never experienced before. How does this increase in the availability of information influence life in today's world? 86
- Some people believe that universities should require every student to take a variety of courses outside the student s field of study Others believe that universities should not force students to take any courses other than those that will help prepare the 90
- Claim: Major policy decisions should always be left to politicians and other government experts.Reason: Politicians and other government experts are more informed and thus have better judgment and perspective than do members of the general public.Write 79
- The following appeared in a memo from the vice president of marketing at Dura-Sock, Inc."A recent study of our customers suggests that our company is wasting the money it spends on its patented Endure manufacturing process, which ensures that our socks ar 83
- The following appeared in a letter to the editor of the Balmer Island Gazette. "On Balmer Island, where mopeds serve as a popular form of transportation, the population increases to 100,000 during the summer months. To reduce the number of accidents inv 70
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 201, Rule ID: IF_IS[2]
Message: Did you mean 'is'?
Suggestion: is
... several unwarranted assumptions, which if proved otherwise, would seriously impai...
^^
Line 3, column 122, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...ating expenses to compensate the losses, by employing more economic methods for t...
^^
Line 3, column 142, Rule ID: ECONOMIC_ECONOMICAL[1]
Message: Did you mean 'economical' (=affordable, cheap)?
Suggestion: economical
...mpensate the losses, by employing more economic methods for the same. This can be brou...
^^^^^^^^
Line 3, column 181, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
... economic methods for the same. This can be brought about by prudent management o...
^^
Line 9, column 26, Rule ID: PROGRESSIVE_VERBS[1]
Message: This verb is normally not used in the progressive form. Try a simple form instead.
...implement. All in all, the argument is wanting of several factors. The owner ignores c...
^^^^^^^^^^
Discourse Markers used:
['actually', 'apparently', 'besides', 'first', 'furthermore', 'hence', 'however', 'if', 'look', 'regarding', 'second', 'similarly', 'so', 'then', 'thus', 'while', 'such as', 'as a result', 'to begin with']
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance in Part of Speech:
Nouns: 0.246350364964 0.25644967241 96% => OK
Verbs: 0.158759124088 0.15541462614 102% => OK
Adjectives: 0.0912408759124 0.0836205057962 109% => OK
Adverbs: 0.0456204379562 0.0520304965353 88% => OK
Pronouns: 0.00547445255474 0.0272364105082 20% => Some pronouns wanted.
Prepositions: 0.127737226277 0.125424944231 102% => OK
Participles: 0.0620437956204 0.0416121511921 149% => OK
Conjunctions: 2.73748605012 2.79052419416 98% => OK
Infinitives: 0.0237226277372 0.026700313972 89% => OK
Particles: 0.0 0.001811407834 0% => OK
Determiners: 0.125912408759 0.113004496875 111% => OK
Modal_auxiliary: 0.0328467153285 0.0255425247493 129% => OK
WH_determiners: 0.00912408759124 0.0127820249294 71% => OK
Vocabulary words and sentences:
No of characters: 3142.0 2731.13054187 115% => OK
No of words: 491.0 446.07635468 110% => OK
Chars per words: 6.39918533605 6.12365571057 104% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.70728369723 4.57801047555 103% => OK
words length more than 5 chars: 0.419551934827 0.378187486979 111% => OK
words length more than 6 chars: 0.340122199593 0.287650121315 118% => OK
words length more than 7 chars: 0.234215885947 0.208842608468 112% => OK
words length more than 8 chars: 0.150712830957 0.135150697306 112% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.73748605012 2.79052419416 98% => OK
Unique words: 250.0 207.018472906 121% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.50916496945 0.469332199767 108% => OK
Word variations: 59.929099958 52.1807786196 115% => OK
How many sentences: 25.0 20.039408867 125% => OK
Sentence length: 19.64 23.2022227129 85% => OK
Sentence length SD: 37.0660815302 57.7814097925 64% => OK
Chars per sentence: 125.68 141.986410481 89% => OK
Words per sentence: 19.64 23.2022227129 85% => OK
Discourse Markers: 0.76 0.724660767414 105% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.14285714286 97% => OK
Language errors: 5.0 3.58251231527 140% => OK
Readability: 53.6522199593 51.9672348444 103% => OK
Elegance: 2.07826086957 1.8405768891 113% => OK
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.358904632014 0.441005458295 81% => OK
Sentence sentence coherence: 0.120055045248 0.135418324435 89% => OK
Sentence sentence coherence SD: 0.0605139744926 0.0829849096947 73% => OK
Sentence paragraph coherence: 0.547629026325 0.58762219726 93% => OK
Sentence paragraph coherence SD: 0.171857722658 0.147661913831 116% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.145785636393 0.193483328276 75% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0874074838612 0.0970749176394 90% => OK
Paragraph paragraph coherence: 0.483650729234 0.42659136922 113% => OK
Paragraph paragraph coherence SD: 0.0415901174684 0.0774707102158 54% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.255635621512 0.312017818177 82% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0358062545029 0.0698173142475 51% => OK
Task Achievement:
Sentences with positive sentiment : 8.0 8.33743842365 96% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 14.0 6.87684729064 204% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 3.0 4.82512315271 62% => OK
Positive topic words: 8.0 6.46551724138 124% => OK
Negative topic words: 13.0 5.36822660099 242% => OK
Neutral topic words: 2.0 2.82389162562 71% => OK
Total topic words: 23.0 14.657635468 157% => OK
---------------------
Rates: 83.33 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 5.0 Out of 6 -- The score is based on the average performance of 20,000 argument essays. This e-grader is not smart enough to check on arguments.
---------------------
Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations to cover all aspects.