116. The following appeared in a memo from a vice president of a large, highly diversified company.
Ten years ago our company had two new office buildings constructed as regional headquarters for two different regions. The buildings were erected by two different construction companies—Alpha and Zeta. Even though the two buildings had identical floor plans, the building constructed by Zeta cost 30 percent more to build, and its expenses for maintenance last year were twice those of the building constructed by Alpha. Furthermore, the energy consumption of the Zeta building has been higher than that of the Alpha building every year since its construction. Such data, plus the fact that Alpha has a stable workforce with little employee turnover, indicate that we should use Alpha rather than Zeta for our contemplated new building project.
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.
The following memorandum from a vice president indicates that the company needs to hire Alpha for their new building project since their former building projects proven that Alpha is more reliable that Zeta. Even if it sounds like it is very reasonable, we need to consider a few assumptions that might weaken the argument whether stated or not.
First of all, the memo does not consider that Alpha and Zeta had been in different circumstances. It mentions that two companies had constructed the same floor plans in two “different” regions. It means that they must have confronted difference costs and expenses. Even though both buildings have identical structures, prices of materials and repair cost could make a huge difference between them. Moreover, they might have to follow different codes and local authorities. Let us consider Quebec and British Columbia in Canada. Since they have different rules and regulations, it would affect construction and operating costs of buildings such as tax, permits, and prices.
In the regards of energy assumption, weather condition might affect the energy efficiency depending on regional conditions. Since two buildings have been built in different locations, the calculations of energy assumption might be different. Furthermore energy efficiency could be varied by people who work in the building. Some people who working in the Zeta’s building might be less care for energy savings in the building, so that it would cost more than the other building which Alpha built.
On top of that, the vice president points out that Alpha has more stable workforce than Zeta does. However, does employee turnover really shows that company’s soundness in workforce? Does it tell you that it is a good construction company? Some companies where it has little turnover in workforce are often less innovative and creative than others since there are no fresh bloods into company. Even if the vice president was right about their construction technic and skills, it does not necessarily means they are still good what they are doing after 10 years.
In conclusion, we need more information in order to make decision on which company they will contract out. Since Alpha and Zeta has built the buildings in the different locations, the result might be very different one to the other. Moreover, the vice president tries to make decision based on the performances from 10 years ago. Thus, it is not so sure whether Alpha is the better choice rather than Zeta since the argument is based on many assumptions unsound.
- Claim: Nations should suspend government funding for the arts when significant numbers of their citizens are hungry or unemployed.Reason: It is inappropriate—and, perhaps, even cruel—to use public resources to fund the arts when people's basic needs are n 73
- 53. If a goal is worthy, then any means taken to attain it are justifiable.Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supportin 90
- Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? It is desirable for students to take classes in many subjects rather than to specialize in other subject. Use specific reasons and examples to support your opinion. 80
- 49 Claim We can usually learn much more from people whose views we share than from those whose views contradict our own Reason Disagreement can cause stress and inhibit learning Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagr 86
- 7. The following is a recommendation from the Board of Directors of Monarch Books.We recommend that Monarch Books open a café in its store. Monarch, having been in business at the same location for more than twenty years, has a large customer base because 90
Sentence: Some people who working in the Zeta's building might be less care for energy savings in the building, so that it would cost more than the other building which Alpha built.
Description: A WH-pronoun, nominative is not usually followed by a verb, present participle or gerund
Suggestion: Refer to who and working
Argument 1 -- OK
Argument 2 -- OK
Argument 3 -- OK
Attribute Value Ideal
Score: 4.5 out of 6
Category: Good Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 1 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 0 2
No. of Sentences: 22 15
No. of Words: 415 350
No. of Characters: 2084 1500
No. of Different Words: 203 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.513 4.7
Average Word Length: 5.022 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.578 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 137 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 103 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 85 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 59 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 18.864 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 6.697 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.545 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.294 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.526 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.119 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5