The following appeared on theWeb site Science News Today.“In a recent survey of more than 5,000 adolescents, the teens who reported eating the most meals with their families were the least likely to use illegal drugs, tobacco, or alcohol. Family meals w

A survey suggested that teens who have regular family lunch are less likely to engage in bad behaviors.
There comes the question of whether the sample used is representative, and many other questions.

First of all, author states that more than 5,000 adolescents were interviewed in order to draw the
conclusion that family meals decreases the likelihood of getting used to drugs and alcohol. The argument
does not clearly give the characteristics of the sample of adolescents interviewed. Indeed, the adolescents
who responded that they are not using drugs, could come from either a region where drug is not commonly
used or come from a family where control and education is strict. Thus, the socio-economic status of the
adolescent's family, the neighborhood, the type of adolescent interviewed and many other aspects is very
crucial in order for the conclusion to hold.

They also stated that family meals is associated with higher grades in school. Actually, this statement
is possibly true but might be undermined by the fact for example that the interviewed adolescent is
naturally clever. Also, higher grades could be associated with education, monitoring at home and at
school. It could also be associated with the love of work of an adolescent. An adolescent which have
frequent family meals and is not monitored or do not like school or do not study at home and is maybe
always playing videos games might perform well in class and will then not have higher grades in class.

Also, they stated that family meals increase self-esteem and lower rates of depression. Though it might
highly be possible, self-esteem could also be a natural predisposition and depression might be a leg
acquired by DNA means. Actually, self esteem could be associated with doing what one's love, and also
with economic status. If adolescents interviewed are of high economic status and are educated such that
they are free to express themselves, then finding that their self esteem is high is normal but does
not actually apply to all adolescents.

In conclusion, Having lunch with family could improve grades at school, increase self-esteem, lower depres
sion rates and keep adolescents away from drug use. But they are some cases for which having lunch with
family could not be associated with higher grades, better self-esteem and lower depression rate.

Votes
Average: 5.9 (3 votes)
Essay Categories

Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 2, column 13, Rule ID: WHETHER[3]
Message: Wordiness: Shorten this phrase to the shortest possible suggestion.
Suggestion: whether; the question whether
...o engage in bad behaviors. There comes the question of whether the sample used is representative, and ...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 4, column 99, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...ts were interviewed in order to draw the conclusion that family meals decreases t...
^^^
Line 6, column 108, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...nts interviewed. Indeed, the adolescents who responded that they are not using dr...
^^^
Line 7, column 104, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...ther a region where drug is not commonly used or come from a family where control...
^^^
Line 9, column 1, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[2]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'adolescents'' or 'adolescent's'?
Suggestion: adolescents'; adolescent's
...Thus, the socio-economic status of the adolescents family, the neighborhood, the type of a...
^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 13, column 100, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...ample that the interviewed adolescent is naturally clever. Also, higher grades co...
^^^
Line 14, column 100, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...ith education, monitoring at home and at school. It could also be associated with...
^^^
Line 22, column 104, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...onomic status and are educated such that they are free to express themselves, the...
^^^

Transition Words or Phrases used:
actually, also, but, first, if, may, so, then, thus, well, for example, in conclusion, first of all

Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments

Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 26.0 19.6327345309 132% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 12.0 12.9520958084 93% => OK
Conjunction : 20.0 11.1786427146 179% => OK
Relative clauses : 15.0 13.6137724551 110% => OK
Pronoun: 19.0 28.8173652695 66% => OK
Preposition: 42.0 55.5748502994 76% => OK
Nominalization: 6.0 16.3942115768 37% => More nominalizations (nouns with a suffix like: tion ment ence ance) wanted.

Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2009.0 2260.96107784 89% => OK
No of words: 383.0 441.139720559 87% => More content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.2454308094 5.12650576532 102% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.42384287591 4.56307096286 97% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.77992733075 2.78398813304 100% => OK
Unique words: 188.0 204.123752495 92% => More unique words wanted.
Unique words percentage: 0.490861618799 0.468620217663 105% => OK
syllable_count: 610.2 705.55239521 86% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.59920159681 100% => OK

A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 5.0 4.96107784431 101% => OK
Article: 7.0 8.76447105788 80% => OK
Subordination: 2.0 2.70958083832 74% => OK
Conjunction: 3.0 1.67365269461 179% => OK
Preposition: 2.0 4.22255489022 47% => More preposition wanted as sentence beginning.

Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 17.0 19.7664670659 86% => OK
Sentence length: 22.0 22.8473053892 96% => OK
Sentence length SD: 51.4821163561 57.8364921388 89% => OK
Chars per sentence: 118.176470588 119.503703932 99% => OK
Words per sentence: 22.5294117647 23.324526521 97% => OK
Discourse Markers: 5.82352941176 5.70786347227 102% => OK
Paragraphs: 24.0 5.15768463074 465% => Less paragraphs wanted.
Language errors: 8.0 5.25449101796 152% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 6.0 8.20758483034 73% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 5.0 6.88822355289 73% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 6.0 4.67664670659 128% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?

Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.170834614599 0.218282227539 78% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0656614481999 0.0743258471296 88% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.06257517704 0.0701772020484 89% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.0551750227485 0.128457276422 43% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.053662116573 0.0628817314937 85% => OK

Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 14.6 14.3799401198 102% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 49.15 48.3550499002 102% => OK
smog_index: 11.2 7.1628742515 156% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 11.9 12.197005988 98% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 13.47 12.5979740519 107% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.19 8.32208582834 98% => OK
difficult_words: 84.0 98.500998004 85% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 11.5 12.3882235529 93% => OK
gunning_fog: 10.8 11.1389221557 97% => OK
text_standard: 12.0 11.9071856287 101% => OK
What are above readability scores?

---------------------
Maximum six paragraphs wanted.

Rates: 58.33 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 3.5 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.

Attribute Value Ideal
Final score: 3.5 out of 6
Category: Satisfactory Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 0 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 0 2
No. of Sentences: 17 15
No. of Words: 383 350
No. of Characters: 1921 1500
No. of Different Words: 181 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.424 4.7
Average Word Length: 5.016 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.698 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 130 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 80 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 65 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 50 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 22.529 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 9.127 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.765 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.35 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.599 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.095 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5