The following appeared in a letter to the school board in the town of Centerville.
"All students should be required to take the driver's education course at Centerville High School. In the past two years, several accidents in and around Centerville have involved teenage drivers. Since a number of parents in Centerville have complained that they are too busy to teach their teenagers to drive, some other instruction is necessary to ensure that these teenagers are safe drivers. Although there are two driving schools in Centerville, parents on a tight budget cannot afford to pay for driving instruction. Therefore, an effective and mandatory program sponsored by the high school is the only solution to this serious problem."
Write a response in which you examine the stated and/or unstated assumptions of the argument. Be sure to explain how the argument depends on these assumptions and what the implications are for the argument if the assumptions prove unwarranted.
In the letter, the author concludes that by participating in the compulsory driving course in high school, the road accidents involving the youths will surely decline. The author comes to this conclusion based on several premises cited in the passage. While the argument might prove true, however, the author’s contention relies on three unjustified assumptions that might hinder its credibility.
First of all, the author assumes that the teenage accidents that occurred in the last two years was not an anomaly, and that it will continue like that, but this might not be true. Perhaps the city of Centerville experienced an enormous amount of rainfall or bad weather conditions, that could have damaged the road and caused more accidents. It is also possible that during the two years, the number of car owners in the City of Centerville augmented, which increased the number of road users. When this happen, the roads in Centerville might be very concentrated, and more accidents are likely to occur. If any of these scenarios occurred, then the author’s argument is seriously weakened.
Furthermore, the author presumes that a “number” of parents in Centerville is significant. Nevertheless, this might not be true. It could be possible that only 10 parents out of a thousand (which is about 1 % of the total parent’s population) really complained that they are busy, and unlikely to teach their children how to drive. Even though they are up to 50% of the population, it may be possible that the majority of them are not permanent residents of Centerville, and that they left after completing what they came to Centerville to do. If any of the aforementioned cases prove true, then the author’s contention is seriously jeopardized. If the author wants to increase the persuasiveness of his argument, then the needs to quantify the number of parents that are permanent residents of Centerville that said that their unwillingness to teach their children how to drive was as a result of their busy schedules.
Finally, the author assumes that just because the high school in Centerville is going to cover the costs of the compulsory driving course, students are actually going to take the course serious. However, this might not be true. It is possible that students will attend the training without paying attention to what is being taught. They might show little interest by coming late to class, and when they come, they just gist and play with their friends. In addition to that, some students might actually participate actively in the class and are willing to learn, but they don’t have the resources to practice when they want to. For instance, maybe those students are poor and don’t have a car to practice with. If any of the above cases is true, then the author’s assertion that the high school driving program will be very effective in reducing teenage accidents is seriously hampered.
In conclusion, the author’s conclusion that the mandatory youth driving course will provide tremendous benefits to the city of Centerville might be true, however, the author’s claim relies on three unwarranted assumptions that reduces the credibility of the argument. To increase the validity of his argument, the author needs to provide the real number of parents living in Centerville, provide evidences showing the past and present conditions of the roads in Centerville, and evidence that the high school students have the right equipment to practice with.
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Comments
Essay evaluations by e-grader
Transition Words or Phrases used:
actually, also, but, finally, first, furthermore, however, if, may, nevertheless, really, so, then, while, for instance, in addition, in conclusion, as a result, first of all
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 29.0 19.6327345309 148% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 17.0 12.9520958084 131% => OK
Conjunction : 14.0 11.1786427146 125% => OK
Relative clauses : 28.0 13.6137724551 206% => Less relative clauses wanted (maybe 'which' is over used).
Pronoun: 53.0 28.8173652695 184% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 79.0 55.5748502994 142% => OK
Nominalization: 15.0 16.3942115768 91% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2926.0 2260.96107784 129% => OK
No of words: 568.0 441.139720559 129% => OK
Chars per words: 5.1514084507 5.12650576532 100% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.88187981987 4.56307096286 107% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.82345953289 2.78398813304 101% => OK
Unique words: 248.0 204.123752495 121% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.43661971831 0.468620217663 93% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 875.7 705.55239521 124% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.59920159681 94% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 9.0 4.96107784431 181% => OK
Article: 12.0 8.76447105788 137% => OK
Subordination: 7.0 2.70958083832 258% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 8.0 1.67365269461 478% => Less conjunction wanted as sentence beginning.
Preposition: 4.0 4.22255489022 95% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 23.0 19.7664670659 116% => OK
Sentence length: 24.0 22.8473053892 105% => OK
Sentence length SD: 69.3407792522 57.8364921388 120% => OK
Chars per sentence: 127.217391304 119.503703932 106% => OK
Words per sentence: 24.6956521739 23.324526521 106% => OK
Discourse Markers: 7.5652173913 5.70786347227 133% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 0.0 5.25449101796 0% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 11.0 8.20758483034 134% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 9.0 6.88822355289 131% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 3.0 4.67664670659 64% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.209726546688 0.218282227539 96% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0658603738936 0.0743258471296 89% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0499504479469 0.0701772020484 71% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.12569267421 0.128457276422 98% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0333504769287 0.0628817314937 53% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 15.2 14.3799401198 106% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 55.58 48.3550499002 115% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.1628742515 123% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 11.5 12.197005988 94% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.89 12.5979740519 102% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 7.94 8.32208582834 95% => OK
difficult_words: 112.0 98.500998004 114% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 11.5 12.3882235529 93% => OK
gunning_fog: 11.6 11.1389221557 104% => OK
text_standard: 12.0 11.9071856287 101% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Rates: 66.67 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 4.0 Out of 6
---------------------
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.
Transition Words or Phrases used:
actually, also, but, finally, first, furthermore, however, if, may, nevertheless, really, so, then, while, for instance, in addition, in conclusion, as a result, first of all
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 29.0 19.6327345309 148% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 17.0 12.9520958084 131% => OK
Conjunction : 14.0 11.1786427146 125% => OK
Relative clauses : 28.0 13.6137724551 206% => Less relative clauses wanted (maybe 'which' is over used).
Pronoun: 53.0 28.8173652695 184% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 79.0 55.5748502994 142% => OK
Nominalization: 15.0 16.3942115768 91% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2926.0 2260.96107784 129% => OK
No of words: 568.0 441.139720559 129% => OK
Chars per words: 5.1514084507 5.12650576532 100% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.88187981987 4.56307096286 107% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.82345953289 2.78398813304 101% => OK
Unique words: 248.0 204.123752495 121% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.43661971831 0.468620217663 93% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 875.7 705.55239521 124% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.59920159681 94% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 9.0 4.96107784431 181% => OK
Article: 12.0 8.76447105788 137% => OK
Subordination: 7.0 2.70958083832 258% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 8.0 1.67365269461 478% => Less conjunction wanted as sentence beginning.
Preposition: 4.0 4.22255489022 95% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 23.0 19.7664670659 116% => OK
Sentence length: 24.0 22.8473053892 105% => OK
Sentence length SD: 69.3407792522 57.8364921388 120% => OK
Chars per sentence: 127.217391304 119.503703932 106% => OK
Words per sentence: 24.6956521739 23.324526521 106% => OK
Discourse Markers: 7.5652173913 5.70786347227 133% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 0.0 5.25449101796 0% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 11.0 8.20758483034 134% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 9.0 6.88822355289 131% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 3.0 4.67664670659 64% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.209726546688 0.218282227539 96% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0658603738936 0.0743258471296 89% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0499504479469 0.0701772020484 71% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.12569267421 0.128457276422 98% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0333504769287 0.0628817314937 53% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 15.2 14.3799401198 106% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 55.58 48.3550499002 115% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.1628742515 123% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 11.5 12.197005988 94% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.89 12.5979740519 102% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 7.94 8.32208582834 95% => OK
difficult_words: 112.0 98.500998004 114% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 11.5 12.3882235529 93% => OK
gunning_fog: 11.6 11.1389221557 104% => OK
text_standard: 12.0 11.9071856287 101% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Rates: 66.67 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 4.0 Out of 6
---------------------
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.