Humans arrived in the Kaliko Islands about 7,000 years ago, and within 3,000 years most of the large mammal species that had lived in the forests of the Kaliko Islands had become extinct. Yet humans cannot have been a factor in the species' extinctions, because there is no evidence that the humans had any significant contact with the mammals. Further, archaeologists have discovered numerous sites where the bones of fish had been discarded, but they found no such areas containing the bones of large mammals, so the humans cannot have hunted the mammals. Therefore, some climate change or other environmental factor must have caused the species' extinctions.
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.
The given argument tries to explain the extinction of most of the mammals in Kaiko islands. While arriving at a conclusion the argument neglects human from being considered as a possible reason for extinction based on the evidences. Finally, it concludes as humans were not the factor it should have been climate and environmental factors. There are certain assumptions on which the argument is built on, if the assumptions doesn’t hold then the conclusion loses its significance.
The argument states that, having found no evidence, humans could have never been in contact with those mammals that became extinct. While arriving at this conclusion the argument assumes that, every possible contact leaves evidences and evidences will always be found and never get defaced. While the initial assumption might be true, the later might not be always true. For example, there could have been a huge environmental change which could have destroyed all the possible evidences . Also, there might be parts of island which are yet to be discovered and might hold the necessary evidences to prove the contact.
While concluding that humans would have never hunted these mammals, the argument assumes that humans always leave the bones after finishing the meal. This assumption is based on the fact that humans left the bones of the fish after the meal. There could be other reasons for not having found the bones of the mammals. For example, we know that humans used to make weapons out of the bones of animals. May be humans then used the bones of the animals for making weapons, or decorating themselves. On the contrary fish bones might have been too fragile to serve this purpose. This being true, it proves the assumption to be wrong and weakens the conclusion arrived.
Finally the argument assumes that, when the possibility of humans being the reason for extinction is taken out, the only plausible explanation could be environment and climatic factors. Well, this could be true, but there is a possiblity that it could have been due to predators or the mammals could have fought against each other and lead to their own extinction. As these possiblities have not been considered or discussed in the provided arguemnt, one can’t conclude that environment and climatic factors alone should have caused the extinction.
With these stated, the argument has its biases and the conclusion that it has arrived is based on these biases. While some of the biases might sound plausible, the conclusion of the argument can be weakend if any of the assumptions are proved to be wrong. Hence, the argument has to support its assumptions with more evidences to further strengthen the conclusion that the argument has arrived with.
- The following appeared in the summary of a study on headaches suffered by the residents of Mentia."Salicylates are members of the same chemical family as aspirin, a medicine used to treat headaches. Although many foods are naturally rich in salicylates, f 50
- The following appeared in a memo from the vice president of a food distribution company with food storage warehouses in several cities."Recently, we signed a contract with the Fly-Away Pest Control Company to provide pest control services at our warehouse 50
- Several years ago, Groveton College adopted an honor code, which calls for students to agree not to cheat in their academic endeavors and to notify a faculty member if they suspect that others have cheated. Groveton's honor code replaced a system in which 53
- A recent study reported that pet owners have longer, healthier lives on average than do people who own no pets. Specifically, dog owners tend to have a lower incidence of heart disease. In light of these findings, Sherwood Hospital should form a partnersh 70
- The human mind will always be superior to machines because machines are only tools of human minds.Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In d 90
Comments
But the sample you have
But the sample you have provided has a different question "Write a response in which you discuss one or more alternative explanations that could rival the proposed explanation and explain how your explanation(s) can plausibly account for the facts presented in the argument." Should the approach be same even if what is asked for is different ?
The expressions may be
The expressions may be different, but the arguments are same.
Sentence: Well, this could be true, but there is a possiblity that it could have been due to predators or the mammals could have fought against each other and lead to their own extinction.
Error: possiblity Suggestion: possibility
Sentence: As these possiblities have not been considered or discussed in the provided arguemnt, one can't conclude that environment and climatic factors alone should have caused the extinction.
Error: possiblities Suggestion: possibilities
Error: arguemnt Suggestion: argument
Sentence: While some of the biases might sound plausible, the conclusion of the argument can be weakend if any of the assumptions are proved to be wrong.
Error: weakend Suggestion: weaken
-------------------
argument 1 -- not OK
argument 2 -- not OK
argument 3 -- not OK
--------------------
read a sample:
http://www.testbig.com/gmatgre-argument-task-essays/humans-arrived-kali…
----------------------
Attribute Value Ideal
Score: ? out of 6
Category: Poor Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 0 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 4 2
No. of Sentences: 22 15
No. of Words: 450 350
No. of Characters: 2221 1500
No. of Different Words: 182 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.606 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.936 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.503 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 147 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 113 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 73 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 49 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 20.455 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 5.061 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.682 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.335 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.558 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.119 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5