In surveys Mason City residents rank water sports (swimming, boating and fishing) among their favorite recreational activities. The Mason River flowing through the city is rarely used for these pursuits, however, and the city park department devotes little of its budget to maintaining riverside recreational facilities. For years there have been complaints from residents about the quality of the river's water and the river's smell. In response, the state has recently announced plans to clean up Mason River. Use of the river for water sports is therefore sure to increase. The city government should for that reason devote more money in this year's budget to riverside recreational facilities.
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 the assumptions and what the implications are if the assumptions prove unwarranted
The given excerpt demands greater funds for organizing riverside recreational facilities based on a survey of Mason City. On the other hand it has been mentioned that the quality of water is not satisfactory in the recent past. Coagulating these two ideas, the author is trying to conclude about large investment in water sports by the government.
The argument appears to be broken and misses very significant assumptions like credibility of the survey, available money with the city government, estimated return on investment and the connection between complaint regarding poor quality of water and introduction of riverside recreational facilities.
First of all, we should be convinced that the survey results were original and consisted of the view of a major chunk of residents. If at all the survey consisted of only one-fourth of the population, then the results and amendments should be hardly considered. Also there should be a proof regarding the final conclusions of the survey, like endorsement by a city official.
Furthermore, assumptions regarding available funds with the city government should be presented, at least an approximation. This is because if government has limited funds then it would be better if it expends those for improving the basic amenities rather than concentrating on the recreational activities. It might be that the government's expenditure on riverside recreation hampers other basic needs like repairing of roads having large potholes.
Whenever government expends funds on some recreational facilities, it also needs to consider the return on investment. It is always beneficial to introduce recreational facilities which have a higher return on investment so that the financial return could be fed back into the funds for other important activities like building disaster management camps.
Next, the river needs to cleaned in order to maintain sanitation and prevent water borne diseases. But the demand regarding cleanliness of water may or may not be related to the building of water sports facilities. Therefore, the connection between these two arguments remains flawed and incomplete, as far as the given excerpt is concerned. It might be that half of the residents want only sanitation of river and the other half, want water sport facilities. Thus, these two conditions might have been understood to be a central issue and could misguide the expenditure of government funds.
The author needs to mention the stated assumptions clearly. Also, all the possible practical scenarios should be carefully analyzed before requesting expenditure of the funds.
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argument 1 -- not OK
argument 2 -- not OK
argument 3 -- not OK
argument 4 -- not OK
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Suggestions:
In GRE argument essays, you need to consider all surveys and evidence are true and valid.
Need to analyze the structure of the statement and argue accordingly:
condition 1:
For years there have been complaints from residents about the quality of the river's water and the river's smell.
condition 2:
In response, the state has recently announced plans to clean up Mason River. Use of the river for water sports is therefore sure to increase.
conclusion:
The city government should for that reason devote more money in this year's budget to riverside recreational facilities.
then here goes the argument:
argument 1:
The residents who complain are water sports fans or passers-by? It is possible that passers-by complain much more than enthusiasts, about the quality of river water.
argument 2:
Maybe the river is inherently turbulent, cleaning it would not help its use for swimming. If the river is shallow, it is rendered unfit for boating. Neither can one fish on the river, if fish do not breed, due to its flow or ecosystem characteristics. In the event of such reasons, cleaning the river would not boost its use for water sports.
argument 3:
Look at the survey, Mason City residents rank water sports (swimming, boating and fishing) among their favorite recreational activities. If the city government devote more money in this year's budget to riverside recreational facilities, there would be no money for other favorite recreational activities.
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Attribute Value Ideal
Score: ? out of 6
Category: poor Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 0 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 0 2
No. of Sentences: 19 15
No. of Words: 404 350
No. of Characters: 2162 1500
No. of Different Words: 195 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.483 4.7
Average Word Length: 5.351 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.986 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 157 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 125 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 102 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 87 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 21.263 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 7.239 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.684 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.323 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.631 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.094 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 7 5