The following appeared in the summary of a study on headaches suffered by the residents of Mentia.
"Salicylates are members of the same chemical family as aspirin, a medicine used to treat headaches. Although many foods are naturally rich in salicylates, for the past several decades, food-processing companies have also been adding salicylates to foods as preservatives. This rise in the commercial use of salicylates has been found to correlate with a steady decline in the average number of headaches reported by participants in our twenty-year study. Recently, food-processing companies have found that salicylates can also be used as flavor additives for foods. With this new use for salicylates, we can expect a continued steady decline in the number of headaches suffered by the average citizen of Mentia."
Write a response in which you examine the stated and/or unstated assumptions of the argument. Be sure to explain how the argument depends on these assumptions and what the implications are for the argument if the assumptions prove unwarranted.
In the argument, the author concludes that there will be a decrease in the number of headaches suffered by the average citizens of Mentia. He arrives at this conclusion by citing evidence such as the rise in the commercial use of salicylates and the fact that Salicylates is in the same chemical family with aspirin (known to cure headaches). The evidence provided, if true, might render the argument valid. However, there are three unwarranted assumptions in the author’s argument that hinder its persuasiveness.
Firstly, the author assumes that because Salicylates are members of the same chemical family as aspiring, Salicylates and aspiring must do the same work of curing headache, and this might not be true. It is possible that Salicylates, though the same chemical member with aspirin, have a different function on the human body. It is possible that the effect of Salicylates is to reduce anxiety or perform something different from the ones performed by aspirin. We might predict or look at it that different members of chemical family have their distinct role in the human body. For instance, someone might aspirin to heal headache, and take Salicylates to reduce the possible side-effects of aspirin. If this situation proves to be true, then the author’s argument is significantly weakened.
Secondly, the author assumes that the chemical in Salicylates will retain its potency even after being used as food preservatives, and this might not be true. Even if we concede that Salicylates contains chemicals that can cure headaches, there is no guarantee that the chemicals will retain their effectiveness when used as food preservatives. It is possible that the kind of chemicals present in Salicylates are those that only function in high density, and thus by including in food preservation might weaken the density and affect the chemical bonds necessary for it to properly operate. It is also possible that there are other chemicals present in what is being preserved that might prevent Salicylates from being effective. If any of these scenarios proves to be true, then the author’s argument does not hold water.
Finally, the author assumes that most people in the city of Mentia likes flavor additives in their foods, and this might be false. It is possible that the implementation of the new flavor additives in foods will lead to a decrease in the number of customers that purchase food in the company. Most people might not like the flavor, and might not get foods from the company because of the new flavor implementation. It is also possible that residents of Mentia loves to eat their foods unprocessed and unflavored. If any of these cases proves true, then the author’s argument is significantly weakened.
In conclusion, the author’s claim that there will be a substantial decrease in the number of headaches in Mentia is plausible. However, he needs to address the three unwarranted assumptions stated above so as to improve the persuasiveness of his claim.
| Post date | Users | Rates | Link to Content |
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| 2023-07-29 | Umaima Khan | 72 | view |
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| 2022-12-27 | Kuldip851 | 68 | view |
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Comments
e-rater score report
Attribute Value Ideal
Final score: 3.0 out of 6
Category: Satisfactory Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 5 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 5 2
No. of Sentences: 22 15
No. of Words: 489 350
No. of Characters: 2447 1500
No. of Different Words: 192 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.702 4.7
Average Word Length: 5.004 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.796 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 175 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 138 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 104 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 58 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 22.227 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 7.323 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.773 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.34 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.34 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.146 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 1 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 5, column 203, Rule ID: SO_AS_TO[1]
Message: Use simply 'to'
Suggestion: to
...ee unwarranted assumptions stated above so as to improve the persuasiveness of his claim...
^^^^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, finally, first, firstly, however, if, look, second, secondly, so, then, thus, as to, for instance, in conclusion, kind of, such as
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 27.0 19.6327345309 138% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 17.0 12.9520958084 131% => OK
Conjunction : 12.0 11.1786427146 107% => OK
Relative clauses : 21.0 13.6137724551 154% => OK
Pronoun: 47.0 28.8173652695 163% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 63.0 55.5748502994 113% => OK
Nominalization: 15.0 16.3942115768 91% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2512.0 2260.96107784 111% => OK
No of words: 489.0 441.139720559 111% => OK
Chars per words: 5.13701431493 5.12650576532 100% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.70248278971 4.56307096286 103% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.91472386182 2.78398813304 105% => OK
Unique words: 200.0 204.123752495 98% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.40899795501 0.468620217663 87% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 801.9 705.55239521 114% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.59920159681 100% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 9.0 4.96107784431 181% => OK
Article: 6.0 8.76447105788 68% => OK
Subordination: 6.0 2.70958083832 221% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 6.0 1.67365269461 358% => Less conjunction wanted as sentence beginning.
Preposition: 2.0 4.22255489022 47% => More preposition wanted as sentence beginning.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 22.0 19.7664670659 111% => OK
Sentence length: 22.0 22.8473053892 96% => OK
Sentence length SD: 41.831346742 57.8364921388 72% => OK
Chars per sentence: 114.181818182 119.503703932 96% => OK
Words per sentence: 22.2272727273 23.324526521 95% => OK
Discourse Markers: 6.18181818182 5.70786347227 108% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 1.0 5.25449101796 19% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 8.0 8.20758483034 97% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 10.0 6.88822355289 145% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 4.0 4.67664670659 86% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.245288833171 0.218282227539 112% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0769537753198 0.0743258471296 104% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0640949282561 0.0701772020484 91% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.13788690325 0.128457276422 107% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0633595925088 0.0628817314937 101% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 13.9 14.3799401198 97% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 49.15 48.3550499002 102% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.1628742515 123% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 11.9 12.197005988 98% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.83 12.5979740519 102% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.02 8.32208582834 96% => OK
difficult_words: 102.0 98.500998004 104% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 11.0 12.3882235529 89% => OK
gunning_fog: 10.8 11.1389221557 97% => OK
text_standard: 11.0 11.9071856287 92% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Rates: 66.67 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 4.0 Out of 6
---------------------
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.