Sea otters are a small mammal that lives in the waters along North America's west coast from California to Alaska. A few years ago some of the sea otter populations off of the Alaskan coast started to decline rapidly and raised several concerns because of their important role in the coastal ecosystem. Experts began investigating and came up with two possible explanations. One explanation was environmental pollution and the second was attacks by predators.
At first it seemed as if the pollution was the most likely cause for the population decline. One reason pollution was more likely was because of the known pollution sources along the Alaskan coast such as oil rigs. Also water samples taken in the area showed increased levels of chemicals that could decrease the otters' immune systems and indirectly result in their deaths.
Another thing that pointed to pollution as the culprit was the decline of other sea mammals such as seals in the same areas. This indicated that whatever was affecting the otters was also affecting the other sea mammals. Environmental pollution usually affects an entire ecosystem instead of just one species. Only predators that occurred in a large area, such as orcas (a large predatory whale), could cause the same effect, but they usually hunt larger prey.
Finally, scientists believed the pollution hypothesis would also explain the uneven pattern of otter decline. In some Alaskan locations the otter population declined greatly while other populations remained stable. Some experts suggested this could be explained by ocean currents, or other environmental factors, might have created uneven concentrations of pollutants along the coast.
<div style="font-size: medium; white-space: normal;"><div class="node__content"><p><span style="font-size: 19.36px;">The lecture holds an opposite point of view to that of the reading passage on the topic of why the </span>sea<span style="font-size: 19.36px;"> otter population declined off the Alaskan coast. According to the reading passage, the rapid decline in the sea otter was because of the polluted water in the area. However, the lecture points out that it's most likely due to predators.</span></p><p>First, the reading passage states that pollutants are the reason behind the decline especially that there are many sources of pollutants in the area like oil rigs and other industrial and chemical pollutants. On the other hand, the lecture illustrates that although analysis revealed increased levels of chemicals in the area, this should not prove the pollution theory because if sea otters were killed<span style="font-size: 19.36px;"> by infections, their bodies would have washed up to the shore. Given that no washed-up sea otter bodies were found, we can</span>conclude<span style="font-size: 19.36px;"> that it </span>must be<span style="font-size: 19.36px;"> predators not something else.</span></p><div class="google-auto-placed ap_container" style="text-align: center; width: 350px; height: auto; clear: none;"><ins data-ad-format="auto" class="adsbygoogle adsbygoogle-noablate" data-ad-client="ca-pub-0840098069707635" data-adsbygoogle-status="done" style="display: block; margin: auto; background-color: transparent;"><ins id="aswift_3_expand" style="display: inline-table; border: none; height: 292px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; visibility: visible; width: 350px; background-color: transparent;"><ins id="aswift_3_anchor" style="display: block; border: none; height: 292px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; visibility: visible; width: 350px; background-color: transparent;"><iframe width="350" height="292" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" vspace="0" hspace="0" allowtransparency="true" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="true" id="aswift_3" name="aswift_3" style="left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; border-width: 0px; border-style: initial; width: 350px; height: 292px;"></iframe><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 1.1em; text-align: start;">Second, the reading passage claims that if we</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 1.1em; text-align: start;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; text-align: start; font-size: 19.36px;">consider</span><span style="background-color: transparent; text-align: start; font-size: 19.36px;"> that other sea mammals are declining too, we can say with confidence that it's pollution because only pollution that could have an effect on the entire ecosystem, given that Orca whales, which could have a similar</span><span style="background-color: transparent; text-align: start; font-size: 19.36px;">effect</span><span style="background-color: transparent; text-align: start; font-size: 19.36px;"> by predation, usually hunt larger prey like whales not small mammals like sea otter. The lecture refutes these claims mentioning that due to the fact that whales populations started to disappear in the area because of human hunters leading orcas to search for alternative diet in small mammals like sea otter, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 1.1em; text-align: start;">sea lion</span><span style="background-color: transparent; text-align: start; font-size: 19.36px;"> and others and this led to the decline </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 1.1em; text-align: start;">in the population of</span><span style="background-color: transparent; text-align: start; font-size: 19.36px;"> all these mammals.</span></ins></ins></ins></div><p>Lastly, the lecture challenges the reading passage in explaining why sea otter population is declining faster in some areas while the population is relatively stable in other areas. The reading passage argues that that<span style="font-size: 19.36px;"> happened because of uneven distribution of pollutants which are at high levels in some areas and at lower levels in other areas. In contrast, the professor in the lecture believes that it is because the nature of the </span>location<span style="font-size: 19.36px;"> and how accessible it is to Orcas. The locations which are easily accessible to the orcas </span>will not be<span style="font-size: 19.36px;"> safe for sea otters because they </span>are going to be<span style="font-size: 19.36px;"> easy prey for the Orcas. However, shallow and rocky locations which are not accessible to Orcas will have larger number of population of sea otter.</span><br></p></div></div><div style="font-size: medium; white-space: normal; padding: 10px 0px; width: 350px; min-width: 125px;"><ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-0840098069707635" data-ad-slot="1869373621" data-ad-format="auto" data-adsbygoogle-status="done" data-overlap-observer-io="false" style="display: block; margin-left: -5px; width: 360px; z-index: 30; height: 300px;"><ins id="aswift_2_expand" style="display: inline-table; border: none; height: 300px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; visibility: visible; width: 360px; background-color: transparent;"><ins id="aswift_2_anchor" style="display: block; border: none; height: 300px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; visibility: visible; width: 360px; background-color: transparent;"><iframe width="360" height="300" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" vspace="0" hspace="0" allowtransparency="true" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="true" id="aswift_2" name="aswift_2" style="left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; border-width: 0px; border-style: initial; width: 360px; height: 300px;"></iframe></ins></ins></ins></div>
- Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? The extended family (grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles) is less important now than it was in the past. Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer. 75
- Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? In today’s world, it is more important to work quickly and risk making mistakes than to work slowly and make sure that everything is correct. 70
- Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?The ability to maintain friendships with a small number of people over a long period of time is more important for happiness than the ability to make many new friends easily.Use specific reasons and ex 73
- Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? There is nothing that young people can teach older people. Use specific reasons and examples to support your position. 76
- Sea otters are a small mammal that lives in the waters along North America's west coast from California to Alaska. A few years ago some of the sea otter populations off of the Alaskan coast started to decline rapidly and raised several concerns beca 73
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 3790, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Put a space after the comma
Suggestion: ,  
...ive diet in small mammals like sea otter, ^^^^^^
Line 1, column 4542, Rule ID: ENGLISH_WORD_REPEAT_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a word
Suggestion: that
...other areas. The reading passage argues that that ^^^^^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
but, first, however, if, lastly, second, so, while, as to, in contrast, on the other hand
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 17.0 10.4613686534 163% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 9.0 5.04856512141 178% => OK
Conjunction : 7.0 7.30242825607 96% => OK
Relative clauses : 21.0 12.0772626932 174% => OK
Pronoun: 31.0 22.412803532 138% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 57.0 30.3222958057 188% => OK
Nominalization: 18.0 5.01324503311 359% => Less nominalizations (nouns with a suffix like: tion ment ence ance) wanted.
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 6064.0 1373.03311258 442% => Less number of characters wanted.
No of words: 631.0 270.72406181 233% => Less content wanted.
Chars per words: 9.61014263074 5.08290768461 189% => OK
Fourth root words length: 5.01195704033 4.04702891845 124% => OK
Word Length SD: 8.72166267812 2.5805825403 338% => Word_Length_SD is high.
Unique words: 282.0 145.348785872 194% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.446909667195 0.540411800872 83% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 1492.2 419.366225166 356% => syllable counts are too long.
avg_syllables_per_word: 2.4 1.55342163355 154% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 6.0 3.25607064018 184% => OK
Article: 10.0 8.23620309051 121% => OK
Subordination: 0.0 1.25165562914 0% => More adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 2.0 1.51434878587 132% => OK
Preposition: 5.0 2.5761589404 194% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 10.0 13.0662251656 77% => Need more sentences. Double check the format of sentences, make sure there is a space between two sentences, or have enough periods. And also check the lengths of sentences, maybe they are too long.
Sentence length: 63.0 21.2450331126 297% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively long.
Sentence length SD: 732.737340389 49.2860985944 1487% => The lengths of sentences changed so frequently.
Chars per sentence: 606.4 110.228320801 550% => Less chars_per_sentence wanted.
Words per sentence: 63.1 21.698381199 291% => Less words per sentence wanted.
Discourse Markers: 8.9 7.06452816374 126% => OK
Paragraphs: 1.0 4.09492273731 24% => More paragraphs wanted.
Language errors: 2.0 4.19205298013 48% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 5.0 4.33554083885 115% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 3.0 4.45695364238 67% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 2.0 4.27373068433 47% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.0448936328898 0.272083759551 16% => The similarity between the topic and the content is low.
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0542128566079 0.0996497079465 54% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0590005858563 0.0662205650399 89% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.0448936328898 0.162205337803 28% => Maybe some paragraphs are off the topic.
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0 0.0443174109184 0% => Paragraphs are similar to each other. Some content may get duplicated or it is not exactly right on the topic.
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 55.4 13.3589403974 415% => Automated_readability_index is high.
flesch_reading_ease: -60.15 53.8541721854 -112% => Flesch_reading_ease is low.
smog_index: 23.7 5.55761589404 426% => Smog_index is high.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 37.3 11.0289183223 338% => Flesch kincaid grade is high.
coleman_liau_index: 39.35 12.2367328918 322% => Coleman_liau_index is high.
dale_chall_readability_score: 11.39 8.42419426049 135% => OK
difficult_words: 185.0 63.6247240618 291% => Less difficult words wanted.
linsear_write_formula: 20.0 10.7273730684 186% => OK
gunning_fog: 27.2 10.498013245 259% => Gunning_fog is high.
text_standard: 24.0 11.2008830022 214% => The average readability is very high. Good job!
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Write the essay in 20 minutes.
Minimum four paragraphs wanted. The correct pattern:
para 1: introduction
para 2: doubt 1
para 3: doubt 2
para 4: doubt 3
Less contents wanted from the reading passages(25%), more content wanted from the lecture (75%).
Don't need a conclusion paragraph.
Read sample essays from ETS:
http://www.testbig.com/users/toeflwritingmaster
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.