The article introduces the reader to the criticism surrounding the authenticity of Marco Polo’s book The Travels of Marco Polo. While the author provides reasoning on which it appears that Marco Polo had lied about his travels, the speaker in the listening section counters the author’s position regarding each claim.
First of all, the author speaks about the relationship of Marco Polo with Kublai Khan, the ruler of the Mongolian empire at that time. He states that according to his book, Marco Polo was appointed governor which is unlikely, considering that he was a foreigner of European descent. The speaker, however states that even though there is no mention of Marco Polo is Chinese historical texts, it is perhaps because the position that he had, is mistranslated in the English version of the book. The speaker further states that Marco Polo had only been an ambassador of the Mongol empire and such a position was not a high-level one and it is likely that many people held such a role during the time.
Furthermore, the author of the passage states that Marco Polo had lied about visiting northern China as his book does not mention of the Great Wall of China which stretches over 20,000 kilometers and being an enormous structure, it would have piqued the interest of such a traveller. The speaker however finds the author’s assumption flawed considering that Marco Polo had visited northern China after the Mongol invasion took place. The Great Wall of China was built to protect the Chinese from such an invasion and hence the Mongols would not have invested in keeping the structure intact. This would have caused the Great Wall of China to be in a state of significant disrepair, and hence did not find a place in his memoirs.
Finally, the author’s cites Frances Wood’s book which claims that the Italian merchant most likely heard stories about Asia while travelling to popular Italian ports like Persia and Constantinople through local merchants and library texts. The speaker, once again, refutes the author’s claim and states that the book’s reasoning is not substantiated with evidence while Marco Polo’s book, on the other hand, mentions a dozen of churches in China which have been later discovered by archaeologists, thus confirming that his book is an authentic memoir.
In conclusion, as is evident from the essay, the author of the passage and the speaker hold conflicting opinions on whether the Travels of Marco Polo are authentic. While the author cites several reasons to support his position , the speaker points out that the book had been compiled almost 20 years after Marco Polo’s visits. The speaker further counters claim made by the author regarding Marco Polo’s relationship with Kublai Khan, the absence of Great Wall of China from his texts and regarding Frances Wood’s book.
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Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 205, Rule ID: HAVE_PART_AGREEMENT[1]
Message: Use past participle here: 'lain'.
Suggestion: lain
...on which it appears that Marco Polo had lied about his travels, the speaker in the l...
^^^^
Line 3, column 67, Rule ID: HAVE_PART_AGREEMENT[1]
Message: Use past participle here: 'lain'.
Suggestion: lain
... the passage states that Marco Polo had lied about visiting northern China as his bo...
^^^^
Line 5, column 227, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Put a space after the comma, but not before the comma
Suggestion: ,
... several reasons to support his position , the speaker points out that the book ha...
^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
finally, first, furthermore, hence, however, if, regarding, so, then, thus, while, in conclusion, first of all, on the other hand
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 19.0 10.4613686534 182% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 3.0 5.04856512141 59% => OK
Conjunction : 10.0 7.30242825607 137% => OK
Relative clauses : 19.0 12.0772626932 157% => OK
Pronoun: 29.0 22.412803532 129% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 62.0 30.3222958057 204% => Less preposition wanted.
Nominalization: 10.0 5.01324503311 199% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2377.0 1373.03311258 173% => OK
No of words: 469.0 270.72406181 173% => Less content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.06823027719 5.08290768461 100% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.65364457471 4.04702891845 115% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.56250870881 2.5805825403 99% => OK
Unique words: 212.0 145.348785872 146% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.452025586354 0.540411800872 84% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 711.0 419.366225166 170% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.55342163355 97% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 4.0 3.25607064018 123% => OK
Article: 15.0 8.23620309051 182% => OK
Subordination: 3.0 1.25165562914 240% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 1.0 1.51434878587 66% => OK
Preposition: 3.0 2.5761589404 116% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 15.0 13.0662251656 115% => OK
Sentence length: 31.0 21.2450331126 146% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively long.
Sentence length SD: 53.9647621653 49.2860985944 109% => OK
Chars per sentence: 158.466666667 110.228320801 144% => OK
Words per sentence: 31.2666666667 21.698381199 144% => OK
Discourse Markers: 8.6 7.06452816374 122% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 4.09492273731 122% => OK
Language errors: 3.0 4.19205298013 72% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 7.0 4.33554083885 161% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 4.0 4.45695364238 90% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 4.0 4.27373068433 94% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.391197369887 0.272083759551 144% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.19649662023 0.0996497079465 197% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.136256530893 0.0662205650399 206% => The coherence between sentences is low.
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.288530540406 0.162205337803 178% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.138021756859 0.0443174109184 311% => More connections among paragraphs wanted.
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 18.1 13.3589403974 135% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 48.47 53.8541721854 90% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 5.55761589404 158% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 14.2 11.0289183223 129% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.72 12.2367328918 104% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.68 8.42419426049 103% => OK
difficult_words: 104.0 63.6247240618 163% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 14.0 10.7273730684 131% => OK
gunning_fog: 14.4 10.498013245 137% => OK
text_standard: 14.0 11.2008830022 125% => OK
What are above readability scores?
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Write the essay in 20 minutes.
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.