The following appeared on theWeb site Science News Today.“In a recent survey of more than 5,000 adolescents, the teens who reported eating the most meals with their families were the least likely to use illegal drugs, tobacco, or alcohol. Family meals w

Essay topics:

The following appeared on theWeb site Science News Today.
“In a recent survey of more than 5,000 adolescents, the teens who reported eating the most meals with their families were the least likely to use illegal drugs, tobacco, or alcohol. Family meals were also associated with higher grades, better self-esteem, and lower rates of depression. Almost 30 percent of the teens said they ate at least seven meals per week with their families. Clearly, having a high number of family meals keeps teens from engaging in bad behaviors.”
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.

The hypothesis tries to establish a relation between the number of family meals and the overall behavior of the adolescent.But, Science News Today does not back it up with any substantial amount of proof, instead there are plenty of ambiguities that can be observed in their hypothesis.

Firstly,the science news today says that they carried out a survey of 5,000 adolescents in order to co-relate their behavior and the number of family meals the children eat.The argument does not specify the region in which the survey was conducted.i.e were all the adolescents a part of a particular neighborhood or were they spread out in different parts of the country or cities.If they reside in the same neighborhood then, it may play a role in their likeliness to use drugs.Thus, the first point itself does not provide any substantial proof to link the number of family meals and drug usage. Also we have no idea of the significance of the survey i.e is a survey of 5,000 adolescents enough to extrapolate the result to a more generalized form?.

The next point of the argument tries to establish a relation between the number of family meals and characteristics of the adolescents like their grades or mental health.But it fails to consider the varying nature of each and every family which could be impacting the performance and personal life of adolescents. For e.g. some families might be abusive or may not treat their children fairly which can have a direct effect on their grades and anxiety or depression levels.Also factors such as divorced parents also affect the mental health of the child. Thus, we cannot say with utmost confidence that having more meals as a family will have a positive impact on the adolescents.

The third part of the argument says that 30% of adolescents who eat at least 7 family meals in a weak do not indulge in bad behavior,but provides no basis for it. For all we know the number of family meals may not have any impact on the behavior of children. Instead factors such as how the adolescent is raised by his parents , or the level of education may have a serious impact on their conduct.

While the results deduced by science news today could be true, there remain many unexplored variables which should be taken into consideration before coming to a strong conclusion.

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Average: 5 (3 votes)
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Comments

Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 31, Rule ID: WEB_SITE[1]
Message: Did you mean 'website'?
Suggestion: Website
The argument put forth by the Web site could be true but, there are plenty of ...
^^^^^^^^
Line 3, column 8, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Put a space after the comma
Suggestion: , the
...o come to a solid conclusion. Firstly,the science news today says that they carri...
^^^^
Line 3, column 174, Rule ID: SENTENCE_WHITESPACE
Message: Add a space between sentences
Suggestion: The
...number of family meals the children eat.The argument does not specify the region in...
^^^
Line 3, column 382, Rule ID: SENTENCE_WHITESPACE
Message: Add a space between sentences
Suggestion: If
...ifferent parts of the country or cities.If they reside in the same neighborhood th...
^^
Line 3, column 480, Rule ID: SENTENCE_WHITESPACE
Message: Add a space between sentences
Suggestion: Thus
...a role in their likeliness to use drugs.Thus, the first point itself does not provid...
^^^^
Line 3, column 599, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: Also,
... number of family meals and drug usage. Also we have no idea of the significance of ...
^^^^
Line 5, column 171, Rule ID: SENTENCE_WHITESPACE
Message: Add a space between sentences
Suggestion: But
...ents like their grades or mental health.But it fails to consider the varying nature...
^^^
Line 5, column 440, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...can have a direct effect on their grades and anxiety or depression levels.Thus, w...
^^
Line 5, column 475, Rule ID: SENTENCE_WHITESPACE
Message: Add a space between sentences
Suggestion: Thus
...rades and anxiety or depression levels.Thus, we cannot say with utmost confidence t...
^^^^
Line 7, column 19, Rule ID: ENGLISH_WORD_REPEAT_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a word
Suggestion: the
...n the adolescents. The third part of the the argument says that 30% of adolescents w...
^^^^^^^
Line 7, column 19, Rule ID: DT_DT[1]
Message: Maybe you need to remove one determiner so that only 'the' or 'the' is left.
Suggestion: the; the
...n the adolescents. The third part of the the argument says that 30% of adolescents w...
^^^^^^^
Line 7, column 136, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Put a space after the comma
Suggestion: , but
...in a weak do not indulge in bad behavior,but provides no basis for it. For all we kn...
^^^^
Line 7, column 263, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: Instead,
...any impact on the behavior of children. Instead factors such that how the adolescent is...
^^^^^^^
Line 7, column 332, Rule ID: COMMA_PARENTHESIS_WHITESPACE
Message: Put a space after the comma, but not before the comma
Suggestion: ,
... the adolescent is raised by his parents , or the level of education may have a se...
^^

Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, but, e.g., first, firstly, if, may, so, then, third, thus, while

Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments

Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 11.0 19.6327345309 56% => More to be verbs wanted.
Auxiliary verbs: 12.0 12.9520958084 93% => OK
Conjunction : 15.0 11.1786427146 134% => OK
Relative clauses : 9.0 13.6137724551 66% => More relative clauses wanted.
Pronoun: 22.0 28.8173652695 76% => OK
Preposition: 51.0 55.5748502994 92% => OK
Nominalization: 12.0 16.3942115768 73% => OK

Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1716.0 2260.96107784 76% => OK
No of words: 358.0 441.139720559 81% => More content wanted.
Chars per words: 4.79329608939 5.12650576532 94% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.34981470047 4.56307096286 95% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.78068383217 2.78398813304 100% => OK
Unique words: 185.0 204.123752495 91% => More unique words wanted.
Unique words percentage: 0.516759776536 0.468620217663 110% => OK
syllable_count: 537.3 705.55239521 76% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.59920159681 94% => OK

A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 2.0 4.96107784431 40% => OK
Article: 6.0 8.76447105788 68% => OK
Subordination: 2.0 2.70958083832 74% => OK
Conjunction: 3.0 1.67365269461 179% => OK
Preposition: 0.0 4.22255489022 0% => More preposition wanted as sentence beginning.

Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 9.0 19.7664670659 46% => Need more sentences. Double check the format of sentences, make sure there is a space between two sentences, or have enough periods. And also check the lengths of sentences, maybe they are too long.
Sentence length: 39.0 22.8473053892 171% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively long.
Sentence length SD: 146.936452209 57.8364921388 254% => The lengths of sentences changed so frequently.
Chars per sentence: 190.666666667 119.503703932 160% => OK
Words per sentence: 39.7777777778 23.324526521 171% => OK
Discourse Markers: 7.77777777778 5.70786347227 136% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 14.0 5.25449101796 266% => Less language errors wanted.
Sentences with positive sentiment : 3.0 8.20758483034 37% => More positive sentences wanted.
Sentences with negative sentiment : 6.0 6.88822355289 87% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 0.0 4.67664670659 0% => More facts, knowledge or examples wanted.
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?

Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.259190901423 0.218282227539 119% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.100556860944 0.0743258471296 135% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0591603742512 0.0701772020484 84% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.122527425145 0.128457276422 95% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0770251240921 0.0628817314937 122% => OK

Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 21.0 14.3799401198 146% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 40.35 48.3550499002 83% => OK
smog_index: 11.2 7.1628742515 156% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 17.3 12.197005988 142% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 11.09 12.5979740519 88% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.7 8.32208582834 105% => OK
difficult_words: 71.0 98.500998004 72% => More difficult words wanted.
linsear_write_formula: 27.5 12.3882235529 222% => Linsear_write_formula is high.
gunning_fog: 17.6 11.1389221557 158% => OK
text_standard: 18.0 11.9071856287 151% => OK
What are above readability scores?

---------------------

Rates: 50.0 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 3.0 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.

Attribute Value Ideal
Final score: 3.0 out of 6
Category: Satisfactory Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 0 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 0 2
No. of Sentences: 11 15
No. of Words: 405 350
No. of Characters: 1875 1500
No. of Different Words: 194 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.486 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.63 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.617 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 130 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 80 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 55 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 36 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 36.818 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 19.748 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.909 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.414 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.685 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.15 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5