At the end of the Triassic period 200 million years ago, there was a mass-extinction event that caused the extinction of more than half of all living species. It was this extinction event that allowed dinosaurs to become the dominant species for the next 145 million years. We do not know exactly what happened that eliminated so many species in a relatively short period of time, but there are several possible explanations.
One theory involves the decline of sea levels. Near the end of the Triassic period, sea levels were fluctuating. When sea levels fall, the habitats for ocean populations that live in the shallows and land species that live on the coast are destroyed. The destruction of coastal and shallow-ocean species would have had a profound effect on food chains worldwide, leading to mass extinctions.
Another theory involves massive climate cooling. The end of the Triassic period was marked by widespread volcanic activity. The volcanoes released large amounts of sulfur dioxide (SO2). A rise in atmospheric SO2 is known to cause a lowering in global temperatures. Such climate change could have devastated many species and led to the extinctions.
The third theory involves an asteroid strike. Asteroids (objects from outer space) occasionally collide with Earth. When an asteroid hits Earth’s surface, it often displaces large amounts of soil and crushed rock, leaving behind a depression, or crater. The displaced debris is thrown up into the atmosphere where it can block out sunlight for many months or even a few years. A sufficiently massive asteroid impact at the end of the Triassic period may have blocked sunlight long enough for most plants to die and many animal species to then starve.
Both the reading and the lecture are talking about the cause of mass-extinction at the end of the Triassic period. The lecture casts doubts on the reading material's three possible explanations: the decline of sea levels, climate cooling, and an asteroid strike. She reputes the three explanations perspectively as the following.
First of all, the passage points out that the decline of sea levels destroys the habitats for coastal and shallow-ocean species, and further hurts the food chains worldwide. While the lecture disputes the point that the species can adapt to the changes of sea levels gradually. She points out that the sea levels change is a gradual process lasting millions of years instead of a sudden thing.
Secondly, the passage suggests that the climate cooling caused by the sulfur dioxide released by volcanic activity can devastate lives. However, the lecture objects to it because of the short presence of sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere. The sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere can be cleaned out by dissolving into water and falling into the ground in the form of rain.
Thirdly, the passage claims that an asteroid strike causes displaced debris and blocks out sunlight for months or even years. On the contrary, the lecture disagrees with the standpoint because there is no crater found caused by any asteroid. Scientists can only find a crater formed millions of years before the extinction, which is absolutely not the cause of extinction.
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Comments
Essay evaluations by e-grader
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 3, column 175, Rule ID: SENTENCE_FRAGMENT[1]
Message: “While” at the beginning of a sentence requires a 2nd clause. Maybe a comma, question or exclamation mark is missing, or the sentence is incomplete and should be joined with the following sentence.
...urther hurts the food chains worldwide. While the lecture disputes the point that the...
^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
first, however, second, secondly, so, third, thirdly, while, talking about, first of all, on the contrary
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 5.0 10.4613686534 48% => More to be verbs wanted.
Auxiliary verbs: 4.0 5.04856512141 79% => OK
Conjunction : 7.0 7.30242825607 96% => OK
Relative clauses : 6.0 12.0772626932 50% => More relative clauses wanted.
Pronoun: 8.0 22.412803532 36% => OK
Preposition: 34.0 30.3222958057 112% => OK
Nominalization: 4.0 5.01324503311 80% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1237.0 1373.03311258 90% => OK
No of words: 239.0 270.72406181 88% => More content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.17573221757 5.08290768461 102% => OK
Fourth root words length: 3.93187294222 4.04702891845 97% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.68439961546 2.5805825403 104% => OK
Unique words: 136.0 145.348785872 94% => More unique words wanted.
Unique words percentage: 0.569037656904 0.540411800872 105% => OK
syllable_count: 369.0 419.366225166 88% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.55342163355 97% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 2.0 3.25607064018 61% => OK
Article: 7.0 8.23620309051 85% => OK
Subordination: 1.0 1.25165562914 80% => OK
Conjunction: 2.0 1.51434878587 132% => OK
Preposition: 1.0 2.5761589404 39% => More preposition wanted as sentence beginning.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 12.0 13.0662251656 92% => OK
Sentence length: 19.0 21.2450331126 89% => OK
Sentence length SD: 25.0931597585 49.2860985944 51% => The essay contains lots of sentences with the similar length. More sentence varieties wanted.
Chars per sentence: 103.083333333 110.228320801 94% => OK
Words per sentence: 19.9166666667 21.698381199 92% => OK
Discourse Markers: 8.75 7.06452816374 124% => OK
Paragraphs: 4.0 4.09492273731 98% => OK
Language errors: 1.0 4.19205298013 24% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 0.0 4.33554083885 0% => More positive sentences wanted.
Sentences with negative sentiment : 7.0 4.45695364238 157% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 5.0 4.27373068433 117% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.116332109497 0.272083759551 43% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0440455046078 0.0996497079465 44% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0675749920357 0.0662205650399 102% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.0656026356492 0.162205337803 40% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0404819007656 0.0443174109184 91% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 12.9 13.3589403974 97% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 60.65 53.8541721854 113% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 5.55761589404 56% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 9.5 11.0289183223 86% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.76 12.2367328918 104% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 9.01 8.42419426049 107% => OK
difficult_words: 67.0 63.6247240618 105% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 8.0 10.7273730684 75% => OK
gunning_fog: 9.6 10.498013245 91% => OK
text_standard: 10.0 11.2008830022 89% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Rates: 73.3333333333 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 22.0 Out of 30
---------------------
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.
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 3, column 175, Rule ID: SENTENCE_FRAGMENT[1]
Message: “While” at the beginning of a sentence requires a 2nd clause. Maybe a comma, question or exclamation mark is missing, or the sentence is incomplete and should be joined with the following sentence.
...urther hurts the food chains worldwide. While the lecture disputes the point that the...
^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
first, however, second, secondly, so, third, thirdly, while, talking about, first of all, on the contrary
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 5.0 10.4613686534 48% => More to be verbs wanted.
Auxiliary verbs: 4.0 5.04856512141 79% => OK
Conjunction : 7.0 7.30242825607 96% => OK
Relative clauses : 6.0 12.0772626932 50% => More relative clauses wanted.
Pronoun: 8.0 22.412803532 36% => OK
Preposition: 34.0 30.3222958057 112% => OK
Nominalization: 4.0 5.01324503311 80% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1237.0 1373.03311258 90% => OK
No of words: 239.0 270.72406181 88% => More content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.17573221757 5.08290768461 102% => OK
Fourth root words length: 3.93187294222 4.04702891845 97% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.68439961546 2.5805825403 104% => OK
Unique words: 136.0 145.348785872 94% => More unique words wanted.
Unique words percentage: 0.569037656904 0.540411800872 105% => OK
syllable_count: 369.0 419.366225166 88% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.55342163355 97% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 2.0 3.25607064018 61% => OK
Article: 7.0 8.23620309051 85% => OK
Subordination: 1.0 1.25165562914 80% => OK
Conjunction: 2.0 1.51434878587 132% => OK
Preposition: 1.0 2.5761589404 39% => More preposition wanted as sentence beginning.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 12.0 13.0662251656 92% => OK
Sentence length: 19.0 21.2450331126 89% => OK
Sentence length SD: 25.0931597585 49.2860985944 51% => The essay contains lots of sentences with the similar length. More sentence varieties wanted.
Chars per sentence: 103.083333333 110.228320801 94% => OK
Words per sentence: 19.9166666667 21.698381199 92% => OK
Discourse Markers: 8.75 7.06452816374 124% => OK
Paragraphs: 4.0 4.09492273731 98% => OK
Language errors: 1.0 4.19205298013 24% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 0.0 4.33554083885 0% => More positive sentences wanted.
Sentences with negative sentiment : 7.0 4.45695364238 157% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 5.0 4.27373068433 117% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.116332109497 0.272083759551 43% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0440455046078 0.0996497079465 44% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0675749920357 0.0662205650399 102% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.0656026356492 0.162205337803 40% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0404819007656 0.0443174109184 91% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 12.9 13.3589403974 97% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 60.65 53.8541721854 113% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 5.55761589404 56% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 9.5 11.0289183223 86% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.76 12.2367328918 104% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 9.01 8.42419426049 107% => OK
difficult_words: 67.0 63.6247240618 105% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 8.0 10.7273730684 75% => OK
gunning_fog: 9.6 10.498013245 91% => OK
text_standard: 10.0 11.2008830022 89% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Rates: 73.3333333333 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 22.0 Out of 30
---------------------
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.