Ethanol fuel, made from plants such as corn and sugar cane, has been advocated by some people as an alternative to gasoline in the United States. However, many critics argue that ethanol is not a good replacement for gasoline for several reasons.
First, the increased use of ethanol fuel would not help to solve one of the biggest environmental problems caused by gasoline use: global warming. Like gasoline, ethanol releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere when it is burned for fuel and carbon dioxide is greenhouse gas: it helps trap heat in the atmosphere. Thus, ethanol offers no environmental advantage over gasoline.
Second, the production of significant amounts of ethanol would dramatically reduce the amount of plants available for uses other than fuel. For example, much of the corn now grown in the United States is used to feed farm animals such as cows and chickens. It is estimated that if ethanol were used to satisfy just 10 percent of the fuel needs in the United States, more than 60 percent of the corn currently grown in the united stated would have to be used to produce ethanol. If most of the corn were used to produce ethanol, a substantial source of food for animals would disappear.
Third, ethanol fuel will never be able to compete with gasoline on price. Although the prices of ethanol and gasoline for the consumer are currently about the same, this is only because of the help in the form of tax subsidies given to ethanol producers by the United States government. These tax subsidies have cost the United States government over $11 billion in the past 30 years. If the United States government were to stop helping producers in this way, the price of ethanol would increase greatly.
The reading passage and lecture are both about using ethanol as an alternative to gasoline. The author of the text opposes this idea and provides three plausible reasons whereas the lecturer opines that using ethanol is a really good idea.
Firstly, the author states that ethanol contributes to global warming due to the release of carbon dioxide which is a greenhouse gas. The lecturer contradicts this by mentioning that plants grown for ethanol production absorb carbon dioxide and remove it from the environment, thereby reducing greenhouse gases. This makes the ethanol an environment-friendly alternative.
Secondly, the author posits that using ethanol will result in a decrease in the food source for animals who feed on corn plants. He emphasizes that a substantial reduction in the amount of food will have a negative impact on animals. In contrast to this, the lecturer argues that ethanol can be produced from cellulose that is abundantly present in all parts of the plants. These parts which do not serve as food for animals can be effectively used for ethanol production, thereby sparing the corn which can be used to feed animals.
Finally, the author talks about the cost of production of ethanol. He mentions that its production cost is too high as compared to gasoline. It is also further noted that ethanol production levies a huge economic burden on the government. This specific point is also rebutted by the lecturer. He is of the opinion that as the demand and production of ethanol increases, its price is going to be gradually reduced. He also mentions a convincing study to support his opinion which claims that the threefold increase in the production of ethanol will actually decrease the cost of ethanol by 40%. It means ethanol will be more cost-effective than gasoline.
- Question Summarise the points made in the lecture being sure to explain how they case doubt on specific points made in the reading passage Ethanol fuel made from plants such as corn and sugar cane has been advocated by some people as an alternative to gas 76
- The cane toad is a large 1 8 kg amphibian species native to Central and South America It was deliberately introduced to Australia in 1935 with the expectation that it would protect farmers crops by eating harmful insects Unfortunately the toad multiplied 78
- Ethanol fuel made from plants such as corn and sugar cane has been advocated by some people as an alternative to gasoline in the United States However many critics argue that ethanol is not a good replacement for gasoline for several reasons First the inc 73
- Question Summarise the points made in the lecture being sure to explain how they case doubt on specific points made in the reading passage The cane toad is a large 1 8 kg amphibian species native to Central and South America It was deliberately introduced 78
- The cane toad is a large 1 8 kg amphibian species native to Central and South America It was deliberately introduced to Australia in 1935 with the expectation that it would protect farmers crops by eating harmful insects Unfortunately the toad multiplied 78
Transition Words or Phrases used:
actually, also, but, finally, first, firstly, if, really, second, secondly, so, whereas, in contrast, in contrast to
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 14.0 10.4613686534 134% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 7.0 5.04856512141 139% => OK
Conjunction : 4.0 7.30242825607 55% => More conjunction wanted.
Relative clauses : 16.0 12.0772626932 132% => OK
Pronoun: 27.0 22.412803532 120% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 34.0 30.3222958057 112% => OK
Nominalization: 11.0 5.01324503311 219% => Less nominalizations (nouns with a suffix like: tion ment ence ance) wanted.
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1520.0 1373.03311258 111% => OK
No of words: 297.0 270.72406181 110% => OK
Chars per words: 5.11784511785 5.08290768461 101% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.15134772569 4.04702891845 103% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.82367750757 2.5805825403 109% => OK
Unique words: 147.0 145.348785872 101% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.494949494949 0.540411800872 92% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 478.8 419.366225166 114% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.55342163355 103% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 10.0 3.25607064018 307% => Less pronouns wanted as sentence beginning.
Article: 7.0 8.23620309051 85% => OK
Subordination: 0.0 1.25165562914 0% => More adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 0.0 1.51434878587 0% => OK
Preposition: 1.0 2.5761589404 39% => More preposition wanted as sentence beginning.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 16.0 13.0662251656 122% => OK
Sentence length: 18.0 21.2450331126 85% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively short.
Sentence length SD: 41.0837083739 49.2860985944 83% => OK
Chars per sentence: 95.0 110.228320801 86% => OK
Words per sentence: 18.5625 21.698381199 86% => OK
Discourse Markers: 7.25 7.06452816374 103% => OK
Paragraphs: 4.0 4.09492273731 98% => OK
Language errors: 0.0 4.19205298013 0% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 4.0 4.33554083885 92% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 5.0 4.45695364238 112% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 7.0 4.27373068433 164% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.196899415719 0.272083759551 72% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0701778642985 0.0996497079465 70% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0407211666262 0.0662205650399 61% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.125950079403 0.162205337803 78% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0261084250218 0.0443174109184 59% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 12.0 13.3589403974 90% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 53.21 53.8541721854 99% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 5.55761589404 56% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 10.3 11.0289183223 93% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.42 12.2367328918 101% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.57 8.42419426049 102% => OK
difficult_words: 76.0 63.6247240618 119% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 8.0 10.7273730684 75% => OK
gunning_fog: 9.2 10.498013245 88% => OK
text_standard: 12.0 11.2008830022 107% => OK
What are above readability scores?
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Rates: 73.3333333333 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 22.0 Out of 30
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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.