The following appeared in a letter to the editor of a journal on environmental issues.
"Over the past year, the Crust Copper Company (CCC) has purchased over 10,000 square miles of land in the tropical nation of West Fredonia. Mining copper on this land will inevitably result in pollution and, since West Fredonia is the home of several endangered animal species, in environmental disaster. But such disasters can be prevented if consumers simply refuse to purchase products that are made with CCC's copper unless the company abandons its mining plans."
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 author of the letter avers that the Crust Copper Company, which has recently bought over 10,000 square miles of land in West Fredonia, will pollute local environment and put in danger several endangered species. The author proposes to abstain for purchasing of the CCC's products unless it gives up its plans to unearth copper. This writer's conclusion is based on several assumptions which should be carefully scrutinized in order to gauge the soundness of the argument.
First of all, we are told that some endangered species inhabit West Fredonia and that actions of CCC will inescapably lead to their extinction. However, the territory of West Fredonia may be enormous and these animals may live in one particular area and thus actions of CCC may not lead to animals' extinction and thus the environmental disaster may not happen.
Secondly, it is said that mining copper on this land will unavoidably cause the contamination of local nature. However, we have no information about what kind of minerals the CCC is going to unearth in this region. Perhaps, it may use the land for digging coal or oil, probably these minerals may be acquired without significant damage of the nature. In other words, the plans of the CCC is not clear and thus author's belief that the land will be used for mining copper is not supported properly, the land may be used for other purposes from mining coal to erection of new fancy hotel for company's employees.
Additionally to it, the argument claims that in order to undermine the CCC's plans to mine copper; the consumers ought to abstain from purchasing products that are made from company's copper. However, copper is rarely used in its pure condition for producing items and goods. Copper often is used in electric devices but perhaps it will be impossible to figure out where this material is used. Moreover, the company may not produce any goods but instead it specializes on selling raw material which is processed by other companies, in this case, it will be difficult to boycott the products produced from CCC’s copper. Consequently, there is not guarantee that the CCC will change its policy because of this proposed idea and thus the disaster may not be prevented by this mean.
In conclusion, the author of the letter asserts that the company, which has purchased over 10,000 square miles of land in West Fredonia, will use it for mining copper and thus it will ruin local environment and cause extinction of some endangered species. However, any of these claims is not supported properly and thus they may be considered as unwarranted. Moreover, the author's proposal to stop the CCC may not lead to expected result as well. Consequently, the argument is weak and requires additional data to be accepted.
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Comments
Hello. I read the essay which
Hello. I read the essay which you give me as a paragon but I still cannot see the structure of the argument.
May you give me outline on this prompt with your suggestion for possible explanations?
Thank you. I would not have asked you if I managed to understand this theme. Thank you.
Mining copper on this land
Mining copper on this land will inevitably result in pollution and environmental disaster, //First, CCC's mining activities may not cause pollution, second, even it has pollution, it doesn't mean it will result in "environmental disaster,''.
since West Fredonia is home to several endangered animal species. //your argument 1
But such disaster can be prevented if consumers simply refuse to purchase products that are made with CCC's copper until the company abandons its mining plans. //your argument 3, plus: Perhaps additional measures would be required as well.
Thank your for your answer.
Thank your for your answer. Now I see the root of my misunderstanding.
I assume that I must accept the given data as true and thus "Mining copper on this land will inevitably result in pollution and environmental disaster" Is it a specific characteristic of this argument which allow me to argue against this statement?
Thank you for your help.
This is a personal opinion
This is a personal opinion from a letter. It is not a survey or report or study. So you can argue against it.
there is not guarantee
there is no guarantee
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argument 1 -- OK
argument 2 -- not OK
argument 3 -- OK
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read a sample:
http://www.testbig.com/gmatgre-essays/following-appeared-newsletter-dis…
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Attribute Value Ideal
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: 465 350
No. of Characters: 2249 1500
No. of Different Words: 200 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.644 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.837 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.554 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 158 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 118 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 85 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 47 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 25.833 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 10.134 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.778 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.34 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.562 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.099 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5