The following appeared in a memo from the vice president of marketing at Dura- Sock, Inc.
"A recent study of our customers suggests that our company is wasting the money it spends on its patented Endure manufacturing process, which ensures that our socks are strong enough to last for two years. We have always advertised our use of the Endure process, but the new study shows that despite our socks' durability, our average customer actually purchases new Dura-Socks every three months. Furthermore, our customers surveyed in our largest market, northeastern United States cities, say that they most value Dura-Socks' stylish appearance and availability in many colors. These findings suggest that we can increase our profits by discontinuing use of the Endure manufacturing process."
Write a response in which you discuss what specific evidence is needed to evaluate the argument and explain how the evidence would weaken or strengthen the argument.
The vice president of marketing at Dura-Stock Inc. contends that the company is wasting money on its patented Endure process, and the company would be able to increase its profits by discontinuing the use of this process. The vice-president claims that the average customer purchases the product every three months, which means that durability is clearly not a factor defining their purchase, thus obviating the need to use the endure process. The vice-president also claims that the result of a survey conducted on the customers in the northeastern United States cities prefer their stylish appearance and availability of colors. The argument as it stands now is flawed and needs further evidence to better evaluate its cogency.
Firstly, the vice-president assumes that the average customer purchases new socks every three months only because the older ones are not usable any more. Further evidence regarding the reason why the customers buy socks every three months is required. The customers might buy newer socks because they like to wear newer colors. Perhaps the customers prefer buying newer collections, which might be considered more stylish than the older ones. A detailed analysis of the purchase reasons of the customers might show this to be true and severely weaken the argument.
Secondly, the vice-president assumes that the customers in the northeastern United States are a representative sample of their entire customer base. If evidence regarding the preferences of customers across their market is provided, it will help in better evaluating the argument. It might be the case that the customers of northeastern United States cities prefer aesthetics over durability, but this might not be the case for other regions in which this product is sold. Perhaps customers across Europe prefer durability over aesthetics. It is possible that many customers across Asia prefer both durability and aesthetics. Data regarding the likes and dislikes of the customers across different regions will help buttress the evidence and significantly weaken the argument.
Thirdly, the vice-president assumes that discontinuing the endure process will not make the socks last less than three months. Further evidence is required regarding the period of time the socks will last without the endure process factored in during production. It might be the case that the socks might last only a month or even less. Perhaps the endure manufacturing process also lends some aesthetic aspects to the socks, which the customers adore. The minutiae of the process must be explored, and without it, there is a big lacuna in the argument. If a detailed analysis of the process and its effects proves the above-mentioned points to be true, then the argument put forth by the vice-president is significantly weakened.
In conclusion, the arguments stated by the vice-president rely on certain assumptions, which can be evaluated only with three key pieces of evidence. A detailed survey and analysis regarding the customers’ reasons to buy the socks, their preferences compared across all the targeted regions, and data regarding the duration for which the socks last without and with the endure process will help in evaluating the argument and ultimately deciding whether the recommendation is viable, but, as it stands, due to the paucity of evidence, the argument does not appear to hold water.
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Comments
e-rater score report
Attribute Value Ideal
Final score: 4.0 out of 6
Category: Good Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 0 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 6 2
No. of Sentences: 23 15
No. of Words: 535 350
No. of Characters: 2802 1500
No. of Different Words: 211 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.809 4.7
Average Word Length: 5.237 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.821 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 220 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 161 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 114 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 67 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 23.261 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 11.946 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.609 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.351 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.351 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.131 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 1 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 425, Rule ID: A_INFINITVE[1]
Message: Probably a wrong construction: a/the + infinitive
...urchase, thus obviating the need to use the endure process. The vice-president also claims...
^^^^^^^^^^
Line 1, column 445, Rule ID: ENGLISH_WORD_REPEAT_BEGINNING_RULE
Message: Three successive sentences begin with the same word. Reword the sentence or use a thesaurus to find a synonym.
...ing the need to use the endure process. The vice-president also claims that the res...
^^^
Line 1, column 571, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...in the northeastern United States cities prefer their stylish appearance and avai...
^^
Line 1, column 633, Rule ID: ENGLISH_WORD_REPEAT_BEGINNING_RULE
Message: Three successive sentences begin with the same word. Reword the sentence or use a thesaurus to find a synonym.
... appearance and availability of colors. The argument as it stands now is flawed and...
^^^
Line 2, column 154, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: Further,
...the older ones are not usable any more. Further evidence regarding the reason why the c...
^^^^^^^
Line 4, column 56, Rule ID: A_INFINITVE[1]
Message: Probably a wrong construction: a/the + infinitive
...ce-president assumes that discontinuing the endure process will not make the socks last le...
^^^^^^^^^^
Line 4, column 127, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: Further,
... the socks last less than three months. Further evidence is required regarding the peri...
^^^^^^^
Line 4, column 170, Rule ID: PERIOD_OF_TIME[1]
Message: Use simply 'period'.
Suggestion: period
...ther evidence is required regarding the period of time the socks will last without the endure ...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 4, column 213, Rule ID: A_INFINITVE[1]
Message: Probably a wrong construction: a/the + infinitive
...iod of time the socks will last without the endure process factored in during production. ...
^^^^^^^^^^
Line 4, column 345, Rule ID: A_INFINITVE[1]
Message: Probably a wrong construction: a/the + infinitive
...last only a month or even less. Perhaps the endure manufacturing process also lends some a...
^^^^^^^^^^
Line 5, column 366, Rule ID: A_INFINITVE[1]
Message: Probably a wrong construction: a/the + infinitive
...r which the socks last without and with the endure process will help in evaluating the arg...
^^^^^^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, but, first, firstly, if, regarding, second, secondly, so, then, third, thirdly, thus, in conclusion
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 22.0 19.6327345309 112% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 16.0 12.9520958084 124% => OK
Conjunction : 15.0 11.1786427146 134% => OK
Relative clauses : 16.0 13.6137724551 118% => OK
Pronoun: 31.0 28.8173652695 108% => OK
Preposition: 61.0 55.5748502994 110% => OK
Nominalization: 19.0 16.3942115768 116% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2859.0 2260.96107784 126% => OK
No of words: 535.0 441.139720559 121% => OK
Chars per words: 5.34392523364 5.12650576532 104% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.80937282943 4.56307096286 105% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.89314398548 2.78398813304 104% => OK
Unique words: 226.0 204.123752495 111% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.422429906542 0.468620217663 90% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 895.5 705.55239521 127% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.7 1.59920159681 106% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 5.0 4.96107784431 101% => OK
Article: 13.0 8.76447105788 148% => OK
Subordination: 3.0 2.70958083832 111% => OK
Conjunction: 4.0 1.67365269461 239% => Less conjunction wanted as sentence beginning.
Preposition: 1.0 4.22255489022 24% => More preposition wanted as sentence beginning.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 24.0 19.7664670659 121% => OK
Sentence length: 22.0 22.8473053892 96% => OK
Sentence length SD: 73.7868081404 57.8364921388 128% => OK
Chars per sentence: 119.125 119.503703932 100% => OK
Words per sentence: 22.2916666667 23.324526521 96% => OK
Discourse Markers: 4.375 5.70786347227 77% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 11.0 5.25449101796 209% => Less language errors wanted.
Sentences with positive sentiment : 9.0 8.20758483034 110% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 6.0 6.88822355289 87% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 9.0 4.67664670659 192% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.236221814894 0.218282227539 108% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0820469309511 0.0743258471296 110% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0568789517257 0.0701772020484 81% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.149909277902 0.128457276422 117% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0693461454797 0.0628817314937 110% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 14.9 14.3799401198 104% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 40.69 48.3550499002 84% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.1628742515 123% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 13.1 12.197005988 107% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 13.99 12.5979740519 111% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.15 8.32208582834 98% => OK
difficult_words: 116.0 98.500998004 118% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 14.0 12.3882235529 113% => OK
gunning_fog: 10.8 11.1389221557 97% => OK
text_standard: 14.0 11.9071856287 118% => 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.