The following appeared in an email sent by the marketing director of the Classical Shakespeare Theatre of Bardville.
"Over the past ten years, there has been a 20 percent decline in the size of the average audience at Classical Shakespeare Theatre productions. In spite of increased advertising, we are attracting fewer and fewer people to our shows, causing our profits to decrease significantly. We must take action to attract new audience members. The best way to do so is by instituting a 'Shakespeare in the Park' program this summer. Two years ago the nearby Avon Repertory Company started a 'Free Plays in the Park' program, and its profits have increased 10 percent since then. Therefore, I recommend that we start a 'Shakespeare in the Park' program of our own. If we do so, I predict that our profits will also see a significant increase."
Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the recommendation is likely to have the predicted result. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the recommendation.
The marketing director of the Classical Shakespeare Theatre (CST) of Bardville asserts that by instituting a program similar to Avon Reporatory Company's "Free Plays in the Park", the CST will be able to attract new audience members and increase its profits. The marketing director seems to believe that because Avon has had a 10% increase in profits since it instituted a program in which they perform plays in the park for free, that the Classical Shakespeare Theatre will experience a similar increase in profits if it institutes a "Shakespeare in the Park" program. However, this conclusion assumes not only that the "Free Plays in the Park" program caused Avon's increase in profits for Avon, but also that the CST would be able to replicate Avon's success. Before the management of the Classical Shakespeare Company implements the marketing director's recommendation, they need to answer several important questions that will help them determine whether this plan is likely to have the predicted result.
One of the most obvious questions they need to ask is whether Avon's increased profits were the result of its "Free Plays in the Park" program. In order to answer this question, they would need to know whether Avon's increased profits came from increased ticket sales at Avon's regular shows and whether the rise in ticket sales came from new customers who had a good experience at the "Free Plays in the Park" program. It's possible that Avon's increased profits were the result of factors other than increased ticket sales that happened to coincide with the "Free Plays" program (e.g., lowering operating costs or increasing revenue from concessions). If Avon's increased profits are actually the result of increased attendance, CST would still need to determine if increased ticket sales resulted from an increase in the quality of shows or actors performing at Avon or some other factor besides the "Free Plays in the Park" program.
Another question that could shed light on the marketing director's recommendation is whether what worked for Avon will work for the Classical Shakespeare Theatre. This is an extremely complex question since there are a huge number of variables at play. For example, if Avon specializes in affordable, familyfriendly shows with simple sets and costumes, they may not only have an easier (and cheaper) time than CST in adapting their plays for performance in the park,but their target audience may also be more likely to attend both the "Free Plays in the Park" and their regular performances. On the other hand, if CST typically produces lavish productions with bigname actors and high ticket prices, it's possible that it will be difficult and expensive to stage their plays outdoors. It's also possible that CST's target audience consists largely of people who are unlikely to attend an outdoor performance. If this is the case, the program is much less likely to be successful in increasing CST's profits.
Also, even if both theatres' park programs are free, its still important to consider each theatre's usual ticket prices. If CST's usual ticket prices are much higher than Avon's, they may also have much less success than Avon in translating attendance at their park performances into attendance at regular CST performances. If Avon's tickets are relatively inexpensive, people who enjoy the free performances in the park may be willing to buy tickets to other Avon performances. In contrast, if CST's "Shakespeare in the Park" performances are free (like Avon's "Plays in the Park") but their usual ticket prices are very high, the program could have little positive affect on ticket sales. Even if people who attend the "Shakespeare in the Park" performances have a great experience there and want to see more plays, they may not be able to afford tickets to CST performances. The program could even result in a decreased sales of tickets to their regular performances if some CST audience members decide to save money by attending the free performances instead of the paid ones. Considering the potentially high costs of launching the program and staging plays in the park, the program could actually be a financial disaster for CST. Without clear answers to these questions and other questions, it is impossible to evaluate the director's recommendation.
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Comments
Essay evaluation report
argument 1 -- OK
argument 2 -- OK
argument 3 -- price is one of the reasons, but there are others like: the quality of the performance; population of the city; etc, here we need to argue :
Therefore, I recommend that we start a 'Shakespeare in the Park' program of our own. If we do so, I predict that our profits will also see a significant increase.
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flaws:
No. of Words: 702 350 //the introduction is too long and every argument is relatively long too. can be shorter. also need a conclusion paragraph.
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Attribute Value Ideal
Final score: 4.0 out of 6
Category: Good Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 0 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 0 2
No. of Sentences: 22 15
No. of Words: 702 350
No. of Characters: 3533 1500
No. of Different Words: 248 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 5.147 4.7
Average Word Length: 5.033 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.693 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 255 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 199 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 129 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 93 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 31.909 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 11.349 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.636 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.391 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.544 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.175 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 4 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 6, column 64, Rule ID: EN_A_VS_AN
Message: Use 'an' instead of 'a' if the following word starts with a vowel sound, e.g. 'an article', 'an hour'
Suggestion: an
...ar increase in profits if it institutes a 'Shakespeare in the Park' pro...
^
Line 7, column 101, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...e Plays in the Park' program caused Avons increase in profits for Avon, but ...
^^^
Line 40, column 96, Rule ID: AFFECT_EFFECT[1]
Message: Did you mean 'effect'?
Suggestion: effect
... the program could have little positive affect on ticket sales. Even if people who atten...
^^^^^^^^^
Line 48, column 1, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[2]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'directors'' or 'director's'?
Suggestion: directors'; director's
...ions, it is impossible to evaluate the directors recommendation.
^^^^^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
actually, also, besides, but, e.g., however, if, may, so, still, for example, in contrast, on the other hand
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 25.0 19.6327345309 127% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 21.0 12.9520958084 162% => OK
Conjunction : 16.0 11.1786427146 143% => OK
Relative clauses : 16.0 13.6137724551 118% => OK
Pronoun: 42.0 28.8173652695 146% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 91.0 55.5748502994 164% => OK
Nominalization: 19.0 16.3942115768 116% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 3788.0 2260.96107784 168% => OK
No of words: 701.0 441.139720559 159% => Less content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.40370898716 5.12650576532 105% => OK
Fourth root words length: 5.14552277128 4.56307096286 113% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.93221458648 2.78398813304 105% => OK
Unique words: 262.0 204.123752495 128% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.373751783167 0.468620217663 80% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 1131.3 705.55239521 160% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.59920159681 100% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 15.0 4.96107784431 302% => Less pronouns wanted as sentence beginning.
Article: 7.0 8.76447105788 80% => OK
Subordination: 10.0 2.70958083832 369% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 4.0 1.67365269461 239% => Less conjunction wanted as sentence beginning.
Preposition: 10.0 4.22255489022 237% => Less preposition wanted as sentence beginnings.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 22.0 19.7664670659 111% => OK
Sentence length: 31.0 22.8473053892 136% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively long.
Sentence length SD: 71.6504514297 57.8364921388 124% => OK
Chars per sentence: 172.181818182 119.503703932 144% => OK
Words per sentence: 31.8636363636 23.324526521 137% => OK
Discourse Markers: 4.90909090909 5.70786347227 86% => OK
Paragraphs: 48.0 5.15768463074 931% => Less paragraphs wanted.
Language errors: 4.0 5.25449101796 76% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 19.0 8.20758483034 231% => Less positive sentences wanted.
Sentences with negative sentiment : 1.0 6.88822355289 15% => More negative sentences wanted.
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 2.0 4.67664670659 43% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.127731332883 0.218282227539 59% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0552482498517 0.0743258471296 74% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0525352531881 0.0701772020484 75% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.04204185338 0.128457276422 33% => Maybe some paragraphs are off the topic.
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0579411551607 0.0628817314937 92% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 19.9 14.3799401198 138% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 40.01 48.3550499002 83% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.1628742515 123% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 15.4 12.197005988 126% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 14.63 12.5979740519 116% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.28 8.32208582834 99% => OK
difficult_words: 138.0 98.500998004 140% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 18.5 12.3882235529 149% => OK
gunning_fog: 14.4 11.1389221557 129% => OK
text_standard: 15.0 11.9071856287 126% => OK
What are above readability scores?
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Write the essay in 30 minutes.
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.