The following appeared in an editorial in 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. Opponents note that last year's addition of a lane to the nearby Green Highway was followed by a worsening of traffic jams on it. Their suggested alternative proposal is adding a bicycle lane to Blue Highway. Many area residents are keen bicyclists. A bicycle lane would encourage them to use bicycles to commute, it is argued, thereby reducing rush-hour traffic."
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.
One party argues for the addition of an extra traffic lane on Blue highway to reduce the traffic congestion thereby reducing commuting time. Others argue that such a proposition would only generate more traffic and suggest that rather a bicycle lane should be added as a lot of residents are keen bicyclist, whom they believe would opt to use their bicycles to commute rather than their cars. While these suggestions are all logical, certain questions need to be answered in order to determine the efficacy of these recommendations.
The motor lobbyists argue for an addition of an extra traffic la...
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Comments
So I had a question about the
So I had a question about the argument section of the GRE. In this question, it asks the writer to discuss questions that need to be answered in order to determine how reasonable the argument is. In this response I sought of discussed these questions by mentioning investigations and studies which would discuss and analyze these questions.However, I was wondering if this would be a confusing approach as it would be answering the instruction that says " discuss the specific evidence needed to evaluate the argument and explain how these evidence weaken or strengthen the argument." I was thinking it would be safer to directly say "the first question.... the second question.." rather than saying an investigation/study needs to determine..."I was wondering if my concerns are valid or if this means of discussing the questions as I did above is equally fine.
We think it is equally fine.
We think it is equally fine. The important thing is how you argue and how the language is.
Sentence: Perhaps Green highway was located in a highly populated area than Blue highway or other factors may have contributed to the inefficacy of the additional lane.
Error: inefficacy Suggestion: No alternate word
Sentence: If this investigation is conducted, analyzing all the factors affecting traffic and making comparison to Green highway as a kind of control experiment, then from the results of this inqusition, one can determine whether an additional traffic lane would help reduce traffic congestion and consequently commuter time.
Error: inqusition Suggestion: inquisition
Sentence: Though the many area residents are keen bicyclists, one does not know whether they would be willing to use their bicycles to commute to places like school, work, meeting, etc. Perhaps these people use bicycling as a receation as opposed to a means of transport.
Error: receation Suggestion: reception
Sentence: One needs to know how well these lanes would be able to accomodate bicycle commuter, as bicycling would be becoming a major means of transport in this area.
Error: accomodate Suggestion: accommodate
Attribute Value Ideal
Score: 5.0 out of 6
Category: Very Good Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 0 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 4 2
No. of Sentences: 16 15
No. of Words: 445 350
No. of Characters: 2218 1500
No. of Different Words: 191 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.593 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.984 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.759 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 157 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 134 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 84 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 58 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 27.812 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 11.08 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.625 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.371 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.588 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.157 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 4 5