The following appeared in a letter to the editor of a local newspaper.
"Commuters complain that increased rush-hour traffic on Blue Highway between the suburbs and the city center has doubled their commuting time. The favored proposal of the motorists' lobby is to widen the highway, adding an additional lane of traffic. But last year's addition of a lane to the nearby Green Highway was followed by a worsening of traffic jams on it. A better alternative is to add a bicycle lane to Blue Highway. Many area residents are keen bicyclists. A bicycle lane would encourage them to use bicycles to commute, and so would reduce rush-hour traffic rather than fostering an increase."
Write a response in which you discuss what specific evidence is needed to evaluate the argument and explain how the evidence would weaken or strengthen the argument.
A letter to the editor of a newspaper highlighted the commuters plight as a result of an increased rush-hour traffic on Blue Highway between the suburbs and city-center. As a result, the travelling time for their journey has doubled. The letter undermines a solution provided by the motorists' lobby and supports the inclusion of a bicycle track in Blue Highway. The arguer predicts that adding a bicycle track would reduce rush-hour traffic. The evidences as well as the suggestion of a bicycle track looks legible during the first read. But a closer look unearths possible discrepancies which could undermine the arguer's suggestion.
Firstly, the arguer draws a comparison between Blue Highway and Green Highway and states that the solution adopted by Green Highway would fail at Blue Highway. It is not entirely true that such a situation would occur. What if the road work that was done on Green highway was a misnomer? Therefore, it could explain the reason why the traffic jams did not lessen in intensity. On the contrary, what if the road work on Green Highway was adeptly done, but it goes through a number of housing societies? This could explain why the traffic jams have not decreased. But such situations do not necessarily undermine the motorists' suggestion that an additional lane on Blue Highway would not help abate the traffic jams.
Secondly, the arguer is of the opinion that adding a cycle lane to Blue Highway would be a much better alternative to widening the highway. The arguer opines that cycling is popular among the residents close to the highway. therefore, a bicycle lane will be an added impetus to cycle to work and consequently, the traffic on the highway would decrease. How can the argue be sure that the residents will cycle to work? what if their workplace is fifty miles away? No sane person would even think about cycling fifty miles to work since it would affect his work performance. Moreover, the increase in cyclists also increases the probability of a cyclist getting hit by a car. Building a cycle track just next to a highway is a dangerous adventure and it would be hard to predict the number of residents who would commit to cycling as a mode of transport to work.
Lastly, the effect of widening Green Highway was studied an year ago. An year old data cannot accurately portray the present scenario. What if there has been a decrease in the number of motorists? It could mean that the traffic jams might have eroded in intensity and hence, it bolsters the motorists' claim that widening the highway is a viable solution. In order to strengthen his position, the arguer should present current data and claim that the traffic jam on Green Highway still persists.
In sum, the evidences provided by the arguer in support of a bicycle track are dubious and fallacious. A reader would find it tough to categorically ascertain if the addition of a bicycle track on Blue Highway would be a successful decision. Hence, the arguer should provide more compelling and relevant evidences to bolster his claim.
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Comments
e-rater score report
Attribute Value Ideal
Final score: 4.0 out of 6
Category: Good Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 0 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 0 2
No. of Sentences: 27 15
No. of Words: 519 350
No. of Characters: 2480 1500
No. of Different Words: 230 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.773 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.778 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.554 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 183 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 146 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 83 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 53 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 19.222 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 7.315 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.704 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.302 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.493 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.084 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 87, Rule ID: A_UNCOUNTABLE[5]
Message: Uncountable nouns are usually not used with an indefinite article. Use simply 'increased rush-hour traffic'.
Suggestion: increased rush-hour traffic
...ted the commuters plight as a result of an increased rush-hour traffic on Blue Highway between the suburbs and...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 1, column 443, Rule ID: ENGLISH_WORD_REPEAT_BEGINNING_RULE
Message: Three successive sentences begin with the same word. Reword the sentence or use a thesaurus to find a synonym.
...e track would reduce rush-hour traffic. The evidences as well as the suggestion of ...
^^^
Line 1, column 615, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[2]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'arguers'' or 'arguer's'?
Suggestion: arguers'; arguer's
...discrepancies which could undermine the arguers suggestion. Firstly, the arguer draw...
^^^^^^^
Line 3, column 616, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[1]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'motorists'' or 'motorist's'?
Suggestion: motorists'; motorist's
...ations do not necessarily undermine the motorists suggestion that an additional lane on B...
^^^^^^^^^
Line 5, column 225, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: Therefore
...ong the residents close to the highway. therefore, a bicycle lane will be an added impetu...
^^^^^^^^^
Line 5, column 362, Rule ID: A_INFINITVE[1]
Message: Probably a wrong construction: a/the + infinitive
... on the highway would decrease. How can the argue be sure that the residents will cycle t...
^^^^^^^^^
Line 5, column 419, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: What
... that the residents will cycle to work? what if their workplace is fifty miles away?...
^^^^
Line 7, column 58, Rule ID: EN_A_VS_AN
Message: Use 'a' instead of 'an' if the following word doesn't start with a vowel sound, e.g. 'a sentence', 'a university'
Suggestion: a
...t of widening Green Highway was studied an year ago. An year old data cannot accur...
^^
Line 7, column 71, Rule ID: EN_A_VS_AN
Message: Use 'A' instead of 'An' if the following word doesn't start with a vowel sound, e.g. 'a sentence', 'a university'
Suggestion: A
... Green Highway was studied an year ago. An year old data cannot accurately portray...
^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, but, consequently, first, firstly, hence, if, lastly, look, moreover, second, secondly, so, still, then, therefore, well, as a result, as well as, on the contrary
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 17.0 19.6327345309 87% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 23.0 12.9520958084 178% => OK
Conjunction : 13.0 11.1786427146 116% => OK
Relative clauses : 13.0 13.6137724551 95% => OK
Pronoun: 25.0 28.8173652695 87% => OK
Preposition: 56.0 55.5748502994 101% => OK
Nominalization: 10.0 16.3942115768 61% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2538.0 2260.96107784 112% => OK
No of words: 519.0 441.139720559 118% => OK
Chars per words: 4.8901734104 5.12650576532 95% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.7730044521 4.56307096286 105% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.63836091512 2.78398813304 95% => OK
Unique words: 231.0 204.123752495 113% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.445086705202 0.468620217663 95% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 770.4 705.55239521 109% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.59920159681 94% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 5.0 4.96107784431 101% => OK
Article: 17.0 8.76447105788 194% => OK
Subordination: 1.0 2.70958083832 37% => OK
Conjunction: 3.0 1.67365269461 179% => OK
Preposition: 3.0 4.22255489022 71% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 29.0 19.7664670659 147% => OK
Sentence length: 17.0 22.8473053892 74% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively short.
Sentence length SD: 38.4346504386 57.8364921388 66% => OK
Chars per sentence: 87.5172413793 119.503703932 73% => OK
Words per sentence: 17.8965517241 23.324526521 77% => OK
Discourse Markers: 5.79310344828 5.70786347227 101% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 9.0 5.25449101796 171% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 11.0 8.20758483034 134% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 10.0 6.88822355289 145% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 8.0 4.67664670659 171% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.215252757235 0.218282227539 99% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0605107948392 0.0743258471296 81% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0954797744622 0.0701772020484 136% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.12664799559 0.128457276422 99% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.108279048211 0.0628817314937 172% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 10.6 14.3799401198 74% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 62.68 48.3550499002 130% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 7.1628742515 43% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 8.7 12.197005988 71% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 10.79 12.5979740519 86% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.01 8.32208582834 96% => OK
difficult_words: 116.0 98.500998004 118% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 8.0 12.3882235529 65% => OK
gunning_fog: 8.8 11.1389221557 79% => OK
text_standard: 9.0 11.9071856287 76% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Rates: 66.67 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 4.0 Out of 6
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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.