The following is a memorandum from the business manager of a television station.
“Over the past year, our late-night news program has devoted increased time to national news and less time to weather and local news. During this time period, most of the complaints received from viewers were concerned with our station’s coverage of weather and local news. In addition, local businesses that used to advertise during our late-night news program have just canceled their advertising contracts with us. Therefore, in order to attract more viewers to the program and to avoid losing any further advertising revenues, we should restore the time devoted to weather and local news to its former level.”
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.
In the memorandum that appeared at the television station, the author claims that time devoted to weather and local news should be restored to its former time as the television station is losing revenue because of it. He advocates his claim by positing that most of the complaints received from viewers were concerned with our station’s coverage of weather and local news and many advertising companies have canceled their contract. Though the argument at first instance sounds cogent, however, a scrutinizing look reveals its hasty conclusion and lack of evidence to support it.
To begin with, are the complaints about the time devoted to weather and local news or something else? The author hasn't provided any evidence to show that the complaints received from the viewers are related to the time allotted to these segments. The complaints might have been about unconfirmed news being shown on the channel or specific propaganda being fulfilled. The author needs to provide statistics to show that complaints are regarding the time allotted to the segment. however, without such evidence argument, loses its value.
Furthermore, what is the reason behind advertising companies canceling their contracts? The author doesn't provide any evidence to relate canceled contracts with the time devoted to weather and local news. Without such evidence any conclusion is unsustainable. It might be possible that the television station has been involved in a legal inquiry. In this case, no company would like to be affiliated with such station and thus canceling their contracts. Or the company is losing its viewers because of poor content. In both cases, restoring time wouldn't make any difference. The author needs to provide a survey of such advertising companies answering why they terminated their contracts. Without such evidence, the argument doesn't hold water.
In conclusion, the argument to restore time devoted to weather and local news is flimsy and unwarranted. The author needs to provide evidence for the aforementioned questions to sound more pursuing. however, as it stands the argument is flawed and unwarranted.
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Comments
Essay evaluation report
Need to argue against the conclusion always. For this topic it is:
Therefore, in order to attract more viewers to the program and to avoid losing any further advertising revenues, we should restore the time devoted to weather and local news to its former level.
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Attribute Value Ideal
Final score: 3.5 out of 6
Category: Satisfactory Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 0 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 0 2
No. of Sentences: 18 15
No. of Words: 339 350
No. of Characters: 1755 1500
No. of Different Words: 157 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.291 4.7
Average Word Length: 5.177 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.697 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 136 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 114 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 75 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 45 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 18.833 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 7.911 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.389 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.35 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.51 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.071 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 4 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 3, column 114, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: hasn't
...ocal news or something else? The author hasnt provided any evidence to show that the ...
^^^^^
Line 3, column 369, 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.
...or specific propaganda being fulfilled. The author needs to provide statistics to s...
^^^
Line 3, column 480, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: However
...rding the time allotted to the segment. however, without such evidence argument, loses ...
^^^^^^^
Line 6, column 100, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: doesn't
...s canceling their contracts? The author doesnt provide any evidence to relate canceled...
^^^^^^
Line 6, column 547, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: wouldn't
... content. In both cases, restoring time wouldnt make any difference. The author needs t...
^^^^^^^
Line 6, column 726, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: doesn't
...ts. Without such evidence, the argument doesnt hold water. In conclusion, the argum...
^^^^^^
Line 8, column 200, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: However
...ioned questions to sound more pursuing. however, as it stands the argument is flawed an...
^^^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
first, furthermore, however, if, look, regarding, so, thus, in conclusion, to begin with
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 17.0 19.6327345309 87% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 4.0 12.9520958084 31% => OK
Conjunction : 13.0 11.1786427146 116% => OK
Relative clauses : 6.0 13.6137724551 44% => More relative clauses wanted.
Pronoun: 24.0 28.8173652695 83% => OK
Preposition: 48.0 55.5748502994 86% => OK
Nominalization: 20.0 16.3942115768 122% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1806.0 2260.96107784 80% => OK
No of words: 335.0 441.139720559 76% => More content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.39104477612 5.12650576532 105% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.27820116611 4.56307096286 94% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.79452413028 2.78398813304 100% => OK
Unique words: 159.0 204.123752495 78% => More unique words wanted.
Unique words percentage: 0.474626865672 0.468620217663 101% => OK
syllable_count: 555.3 705.55239521 79% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.7 1.59920159681 106% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 2.0 4.96107784431 40% => OK
Article: 10.0 8.76447105788 114% => OK
Subordination: 2.0 2.70958083832 74% => OK
Conjunction: 1.0 1.67365269461 60% => OK
Preposition: 8.0 4.22255489022 189% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 20.0 19.7664670659 101% => OK
Sentence length: 16.0 22.8473053892 70% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively short.
Sentence length SD: 46.6950479173 57.8364921388 81% => OK
Chars per sentence: 90.3 119.503703932 76% => OK
Words per sentence: 16.75 23.324526521 72% => OK
Discourse Markers: 4.4 5.70786347227 77% => OK
Paragraphs: 4.0 5.15768463074 78% => More paragraphs wanted.
Language errors: 7.0 5.25449101796 133% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 7.0 8.20758483034 85% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 8.0 6.88822355289 116% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 5.0 4.67664670659 107% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.260624629847 0.218282227539 119% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0842320318969 0.0743258471296 113% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.105867969959 0.0701772020484 151% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.181252300304 0.128457276422 141% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0571863568706 0.0628817314937 91% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 12.3 14.3799401198 86% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 46.78 48.3550499002 97% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 7.1628742515 43% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 10.7 12.197005988 88% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 13.69 12.5979740519 109% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 7.97 8.32208582834 96% => OK
difficult_words: 75.0 98.500998004 76% => More difficult words wanted.
linsear_write_formula: 14.5 12.3882235529 117% => OK
gunning_fog: 8.4 11.1389221557 75% => OK
text_standard: 11.0 11.9071856287 92% => OK
What are above readability scores?
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Rates: 50.0 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 3.0 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.