TOEFL integrated writing The sea otter

The reading and the lecture are both about the causes of the decline of the aquatic animal, sea otters. The author of the reading supports the pollution hypothesis to explain this scenario. The lecturer undermines the claims made by the author. She thinks that the predator hypothesis is the most reasonable explanation.

To begin with, the writer suggests that there are identified sources of pollution along that coastal region. In the article, it is said that it has revealed through the water samples that there is an increase in the chemicals decreasing the otters' resistance to infections. This argument is rebutted by the lecturer. He elaborates on this by bringing up the point that dead sea otters were not found in the coastal line. He mentions that predator hypothesis applies well for this observation as the predators caused the death of them, dead ones can't be washed into the beaches.

Secondly, the author argues that there is reduction of other sea mammals along that area indicating that the entire ecosystem is affected. The specific argument is challenged by the lecturer. He claims that the decline of the other sea mammals like whales happened with the human intervention which made the orcas to prefer hunting smaller prey like otter.

Finally, the author posits that there is uneven pattern of the otter decline with different patterns were observed in different areas. Additionally, he says that this suggests that ocean currents or other environmental factors may have created uneven amount of pollutants. In contrast, the lecturer's position is that the there is an uneven distribution of predators based on the location. He notes that some of the otters' predators not prefer shallow and rocky locations where there is a stable number of the species living proving the explanation based on predators.

Votes
Average: 8.5 (2 votes)
Essay Categories

Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 191, 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.
...on hypothesis to explain this scenario. The lecturer undermines the claims made by ...
^^^
Line 3, column 242, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[1]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'otters'' or 'otter's'?
Suggestion: otters'; otter's
...ncrease in the chemicals decreasing the otters resistance to infections. This argument...
^^^^^^
Line 3, column 546, Rule ID: CANT[1]
Message: Did you mean 'can't' or 'cannot'?
Suggestion: can't; cannot
...ors caused the death of them, dead ones cant be washed into the beaches. Secondl...
^^^^
Line 7, column 404, Rule ID: SOME_OF_THE[1]
Message: Simply use 'some'.
Suggestion: some
...rs based on the location. He notes that some of the otters predators not prefer shallow and...
^^^^^^^^^^^

Transition Words or Phrases used:
but, finally, if, may, second, secondly, so, well, as to, in contrast, to begin with

Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments

Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 16.0 10.4613686534 153% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 1.0 5.04856512141 20% => OK
Conjunction : 3.0 7.30242825607 41% => More conjunction wanted.
Relative clauses : 18.0 12.0772626932 149% => OK
Pronoun: 30.0 22.412803532 134% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 39.0 30.3222958057 129% => OK
Nominalization: 13.0 5.01324503311 259% => Less nominalizations (nouns with a suffix like: tion ment ence ance) wanted.

Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1540.0 1373.03311258 112% => OK
No of words: 298.0 270.72406181 110% => OK
Chars per words: 5.1677852349 5.08290768461 102% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.15483772266 4.04702891845 103% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.6543942336 2.5805825403 103% => OK
Unique words: 158.0 145.348785872 109% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.530201342282 0.540411800872 98% => OK
syllable_count: 478.8 419.366225166 114% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.55342163355 103% => OK

A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 8.0 3.25607064018 246% => Less pronouns wanted as sentence beginning.
Article: 8.0 8.23620309051 97% => OK
Subordination: 0.0 1.25165562914 0% => More adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 0.0 1.51434878587 0% => OK
Preposition: 3.0 2.5761589404 116% => OK

Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 16.0 13.0662251656 122% => OK
Sentence length: 18.0 21.2450331126 85% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively short.
Sentence length SD: 41.5466605156 49.2860985944 84% => OK
Chars per sentence: 96.25 110.228320801 87% => OK
Words per sentence: 18.625 21.698381199 86% => OK
Discourse Markers: 5.25 7.06452816374 74% => OK
Paragraphs: 4.0 4.09492273731 98% => OK
Language errors: 4.0 4.19205298013 95% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 5.0 4.33554083885 115% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 6.0 4.45695364238 135% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 5.0 4.27373068433 117% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?

Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.122147197945 0.272083759551 45% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0362364705781 0.0996497079465 36% => Sentence topic similarity is low.
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0457169405829 0.0662205650399 69% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.0743344221571 0.162205337803 46% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.029449453432 0.0443174109184 66% => OK

Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 12.2 13.3589403974 91% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 53.21 53.8541721854 99% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 5.55761589404 158% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 10.3 11.0289183223 93% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.71 12.2367328918 104% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 9.35 8.42419426049 111% => OK
difficult_words: 91.0 63.6247240618 143% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 7.0 10.7273730684 65% => OK
gunning_fog: 9.2 10.498013245 88% => OK
text_standard: 10.0 11.2008830022 89% => OK
What are above readability scores?

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Rates: 80.0 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 24.0 Out of 30
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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.