The following appeared in an article in a travel magazine:
"After the airline industry began requiring airlines to report their on-time rates, Speedee Airlines achieved the number one on-time rate, with over 89 percent of its flights arriving on time each month. And now Speedee is offering more flights to more destinations than ever before. Clearly, Speedee is the best choice for today's business traveler."
The author of the argument has failed to convince us that Speedee Airlines is the best choice for today's business traveler. The argument, as it stands, is based on questionable assumptions and a faulty line of reasoning, a fact which renders it over simplistic and unconvincing.
First of all, even if we take for granted the validity of the data provided, the author assumes that the figure of 89 percent of flights arriving on time each month is a convincing one. Yet, a percentage figure could be misleading. We need to know the total number of flights operated by Speedee Airlines and therefor...
- "Custom-made products, those which are made according to the requirements of an individual customer, are optimum for an intelligent buyer. The product is designed and perfected to please the purchaser to the highest level. Yet, the cost of production and 90
- "The Cumquat Cafe began advertising on our local radio station this year and was delighted to see its business increase by 10 percent over last year’s totals. Their success shows you how you can use radio advertising to make your business more profitabl 85
- The best way to teach is to praise positive actions and ignore negative ones 76
- "In an airline company nine out of the one thousand of its customers sent complaints about baggage handling. Therefore, the overwhelming majority feels fine about it, so there is no need to review the procedure of baggage handling." 90
- "Businesses should try to reduce the large number of positions and salary levels in an effort to provide their employees with a satisfying working environment." 90
Comments
Why can't this essay get a 6?
Why can't this essay get a 6? Where is the fault?
argument 1 -- OK
argument 2 -- OK
argument 3 -- OK
----------------
Attribute Value Ideal
Score: 5.5 out of 6
Category: Excellent Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 0 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 0 2
No. of Sentences: 17 15
No. of Words: 424 350
No. of Characters: 2102 1500
No. of Different Words: 205 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.538 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.958 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.663 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 168 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 132 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 80 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 40 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 24.941 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 11.558 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.706 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.342 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.578 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.145 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5