Argument Topic: "The following is taken from a memo from the advertising director of the Super Screen Movie Production Company. "According to a recent report from our marketing department, during the past year, fewer people attended Super Screen-produced movies than in any other year. And yet the percentage of positive reviews by movie reviewers about specific Super Screen movies actually increased during the past year. Clearly, the contents of these reviews are not reaching enough of our prospective viewers. Thus, the problem lies not with the quality of our movies but with the public's lack of awareness that movies of good quality are available. Super Screen should therefore allocate a greater share of its budget next year to reaching the public through advertising."
Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the recommendation and the argument on which it is based are reasonable. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the recommendation.
Following a decline in the number of people visiting the Super Screen-produced movies in the past year, the advertising directory sites the lack of publicity of the current reviews behind this decline. To overcome this drawback, it recommends Super Screen to increase the budget allotted for the coming year. The increase in budget will publicize the positive reviews and eventually attract more poeple. However, the answer for certain vital questions is essential to determine the validity of the claim.
The very first essential thing which the argument lacks is the unquantified data. What was the attendance in the previous few years? It could be that the number has been on a decline since quite some time and that of the past year was the lowest. Also the memo states that only 'specific' Super Screen movies had a positive review. Hence is mandatory for the memo to present the total number of people attending those shows and how many of them had a positive review about the screening. This should also be accompanied by the reviews regarding the other movies which have not been mentioned.
The next vital question which goes unanswered is whether the movies preferred by the people match with those produced by Super Screen? In the past years, it is quite possible that the genre of the movies which people watched has changed, yet Super Screen continues with its old format. If there are a small of people who are preferring the movies produced by Super Screen, then it will be wasteful measure to publicize the positive reviews. Instead the money allocated could be used to carry out a survey regarding the types of movies the people watched and then eventually the production crew must get into an act of producing such movies.
Super screen terms its movies as 'good quality' and instead blames the 'lack of public awareness' for the decline. However, is there any valid proof which will support this claim? If yes then Super screen should mention about and such a report will convince the finance department to allocate a greater share for publicity. Moreover, the prospective viewers will also get attracted towards such advertises and flock the theaters for Super Screen movies.
Thus, the above questions need to be answered to validate the recommendation. However, as of now, the questions remain unanswered and the argument is termed ill-logical. Had the the author taken care to answer the above questions, then the authenticity of the argument wouldn't have fallen flat.
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Sentence: Had the the author taken care to answer the above questions, then the authenticity of the argument wouldn't have fallen flat.
Description: The token the is not usually followed by an article
Suggestion: Refer to the and the
Sentence: The increase in budget will publicize the positive reviews and eventually attract more poeple.
Error: poeple Suggestion: people
Assumption 1: According to a recent report from our marketing department, during the past year, fewer people attended Super Screen-produced movies than in any other year.
-- the fall-off in attendance might be industry wide
-- the general state of the economy might have affected movie attendance
Assumption 2: And yet the percentage of positive reviews by movie reviewers about specific Super Screen movies actually increased during the past year.
-- movie goers "rarely trust movie reviewers" and how is the percentage
Conclusion: Super Screen should therefore allocate a greater share of its budget next year to reaching the public through advertising.
-- It depends on the quality of the movies not by advertisement
A good sample:
http://www.testbig.com/gmatgre-essays/following-taken-memo-advertising-…
Attribute Value Ideal
Score: 4.5 out of 6
Category: Good Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 1 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 0 2
No. of Sentences: 21 15
No. of Words: 416 350
No. of Characters: 2034 1500
No. of Different Words: 203 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.516 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.889 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.47 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 149 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 99 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 70 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 43 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 19.81 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 7.001 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.619 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.299 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.528 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.085 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5