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.
In the editorial from the local newspaper, it is stated that opponents of the motorists' lobby's plan to add another lane to Blue Highway have instead advocated that a bicycle lane be constructed in order to alleviate the highway's traffic issues. The opponents have come to this conclusion based on the issues faced by Green Highway last year as well as the keen interest in bicycling of the area's local residents. However, before this recommendation can be properly evaluated, three questions must be
answered.
First of all, are Green Highway and Blue Highway roughly comparable? In other words, can circumstances from one highway be used to make generalizations and predictions about the other? It is possible that Green Highway and Blue Highway are not similar at all - perhaps Green Highway runs through residential neighborhoods, whereas Blue Highway is located mostly in rural, unpopulated sections of the city. Further, there is a possibility that the quality of the highways is markedly different,
with Green Highway's roads falling apart and Blue Highway's in pristine condition. If either of these scenarios has merit, then the conclusion drawn in the original argument is significantly weakened.
Secondly, do a majority of the area residents interested in biking live within biking distance of their places of employment? The opponents in the argument prematurely assume that many of the residents in the town will bike to work in the morning rather than drive their cars. However, this might not be the case. Perhaps the average distance from home to work is over 15 miles, and that's why many of the residents are essentially obligated to take the highway - even if they don't want to. In an ideal
world, they might choose to bike to work, but if the reality is such that they cannot do so due to the logistics of their situations, then only one form of transportation (the car via the highway) is possible. If the above is true, then the argument does not hold water.
Finally, do local residents who enjoy bicycling as a hobby opt for biking as their choice of commute to work on a daily basis? It is possible that the local residents are avid bikers who prefer bicycling only during the weekends and maybe do not actually consider it for commuting to work. The idea of biking to work may not be as lucrative as the opponents assume, primarily if the work location is situated far from the residential areas or if weather conditions are not tolerable such as hot summers or monsoons. If the above scenarios hold ground, then the argument is quite debilitated.
In conclusion, the argument, as it stands now, is considerably flawed due to its reliance on several unwarranted assumptions. If the author is able to answer the three questions above and offer more evidence (perhaps in the form of a systematic research study), then it will be possible to fully
evaluate the viability of the proposed recommendation to add a bike lane to Blue Highway.
Comments
e-rater score report
Attribute Value Ideal
Final score: 3.5 out of 6
Category: Satisfactory Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 4 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 4 2
No. of Sentences: 20 15
No. of Words: 501 350
No. of Characters: 2408 1500
No. of Different Words: 245 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.731 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.806 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.743 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 162 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 134 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 96 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 63 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 25.05 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 11.307 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.85 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.308 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.532 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.068 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 4, column 90, Rule ID: DID_BASEFORM[2]
Message: The verb 'can' requires the base form of the verb: 'circumstance'
Suggestion: circumstance
...roughly comparable? In other words, can circumstances from one highway be used to make genera...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 7, column 384, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: that's
...from home to work is over 15 miles, and thats why many of the residents are essential...
^^^^^
Line 7, column 477, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: don't
...ated to take the highway - even if they dont want to. In an ideal world, they might...
^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
actually, but, finally, first, however, if, may, second, secondly, so, then, well, whereas, in conclusion, such as, as well as, first of all, in other words
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 27.0 19.6327345309 138% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 9.0 12.9520958084 69% => OK
Conjunction : 10.0 11.1786427146 89% => OK
Relative clauses : 9.0 13.6137724551 66% => More relative clauses wanted.
Pronoun: 25.0 28.8173652695 87% => OK
Preposition: 70.0 55.5748502994 126% => OK
Nominalization: 15.0 16.3942115768 91% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2472.0 2260.96107784 109% => OK
No of words: 500.0 441.139720559 113% => OK
Chars per words: 4.944 5.12650576532 96% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.72870804502 4.56307096286 104% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.81088614768 2.78398813304 101% => OK
Unique words: 248.0 204.123752495 121% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.496 0.468620217663 106% => OK
syllable_count: 782.1 705.55239521 111% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.59920159681 100% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 5.0 4.96107784431 101% => OK
Article: 4.0 8.76447105788 46% => OK
Subordination: 6.0 2.70958083832 221% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 2.0 1.67365269461 119% => OK
Preposition: 6.0 4.22255489022 142% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 20.0 19.7664670659 101% => OK
Sentence length: 25.0 22.8473053892 109% => OK
Sentence length SD: 62.2576099766 57.8364921388 108% => OK
Chars per sentence: 123.6 119.503703932 103% => OK
Words per sentence: 25.0 23.324526521 107% => OK
Discourse Markers: 7.8 5.70786347227 137% => OK
Paragraphs: 8.0 5.15768463074 155% => Less paragraphs wanted.
Language errors: 3.0 5.25449101796 57% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 7.0 8.20758483034 85% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 5.0 6.88822355289 73% => 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: 0.213780795233 0.218282227539 98% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0611009896326 0.0743258471296 82% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.066754915396 0.0701772020484 95% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.0988776625523 0.128457276422 77% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0643370764624 0.0628817314937 102% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 14.3 14.3799401198 99% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 46.1 48.3550499002 95% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.1628742515 123% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 13.0 12.197005988 107% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 11.67 12.5979740519 93% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.54 8.32208582834 103% => OK
difficult_words: 116.0 98.500998004 118% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 11.0 12.3882235529 89% => OK
gunning_fog: 12.0 11.1389221557 108% => OK
text_standard: 12.0 11.9071856287 101% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Maximum six paragraphs wanted.
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.