Sea otters are a small mammal that lives in the waters along North America's west coast from California to Alaska. A few years ago some of the sea otter populations off of the Alaskan coast started to decline rapidly and raised several concerns because of their important role in the coastal ecosystem. Experts began investigating and came up with two possible explanations. One explanation was environmental pollution and the second was attacks by predators.
At first it seemed as if the pollution was the most likely cause for the population decline. One reason pollution was more likely was because of the known pollution sources along the Alaskan coast such as oil rigs. Also water samples taken in the area showed increased levels of chemicals that could decrease the otters' immune systems and indirectly result in their deaths.
Another thing that pointed to pollution as the culprit was the decline of other sea mammals such as seals in the same areas. This indicated that whatever was affecting the otters was also affecting the other sea mammals. Environmental pollution usually affects an entire ecosystem instead of just one species. Only predators that occurred in a large area, such as orcas (a large predatory whale), could cause the same effect, but they usually hunt larger prey.
Finally, scientists believed the pollution hypothesis would also explain the uneven pattern of otter decline. In some Alaskan locations the otter population declined greatly while other populations remained stable. Some experts suggested this could be explained by ocean currents, or other environmental factor, might have created uneven concentrations of pollutants along the coast.
The reading passage claimed that there are two explanations, which were the pollution hypothesis and predation hypothesis, for the declining sea otters off the Alaskan coast. And while the passage said that the pollution hypothesis was more likely at first and offered few reasons to support, the professor supported the predation hypothesis.
The first reason was the increased harmful chemicals in the water samples collected from the area where the populations of sea otter declined. But the professor opposed the idea and questioned the hypothesis by saying there were no vast dead sea otters on off the shore to show the connection between chemicals and decline populations of sea otters. And human hunters were the predator not the pollutants.
Then the passage claimed that it were seals and sea lions but orca that killed the sea otter because the pollutants affected the eccosystem and orca prefer whales. The professor then dispute the explanation again by saying that orca could eat otters. And the place where orca could not reach are the same otter
- Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Always telling the truth is the most important consideration in any relationship. Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer. 60
- Television advertising directed toward young children (aged two to five) should not be allowed. Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer. 66
- Some people say that the Internet provides people with a lot of valuable information. Others think access to so much information creates problems. Which do you agree with? 60
- Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?It is better to have broad knowledge of many academic subjects than to specialize in one specific subject. 60
- Do you agree or disagree with the following statement: people today spend too much time on personal enjoyment - doing things they like to do - rather than doing things they should do. 75
Transition Words or Phrases used:
but, first, so, then, while
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 8.0 10.4613686534 76% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 2.0 5.04856512141 40% => OK
Conjunction : 11.0 7.30242825607 151% => OK
Relative clauses : 8.0 12.0772626932 66% => More relative clauses wanted.
Pronoun: 6.0 22.412803532 27% => OK
Preposition: 13.0 30.3222958057 43% => More preposition wanted.
Nominalization: 6.0 5.01324503311 120% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 899.0 1373.03311258 65% => OK
No of words: 173.0 270.72406181 64% => More content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.19653179191 5.08290768461 102% => OK
Fourth root words length: 3.62669911048 4.04702891845 90% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.57062363066 2.5805825403 100% => OK
Unique words: 94.0 145.348785872 65% => More unique words wanted.
Unique words percentage: 0.543352601156 0.540411800872 101% => OK
syllable_count: 276.3 419.366225166 66% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.55342163355 103% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 0.0 3.25607064018 0% => OK
Article: 4.0 8.23620309051 49% => OK
Subordination: 0.0 1.25165562914 0% => More adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 4.0 1.51434878587 264% => Less conjunction wanted as sentence beginning.
Preposition: 0.0 2.5761589404 0% => More preposition wanted as sentence beginning.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 8.0 13.0662251656 61% => 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: 21.0 21.2450331126 99% => OK
Sentence length SD: 53.5 49.2860985944 109% => OK
Chars per sentence: 112.375 110.228320801 102% => OK
Words per sentence: 21.625 21.698381199 100% => OK
Discourse Markers: 3.375 7.06452816374 48% => More transition words/phrases wanted.
Paragraphs: 3.0 4.09492273731 73% => More paragraphs wanted.
Language errors: 0.0 4.19205298013 0% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 2.0 4.33554083885 46% => More positive sentences wanted.
Sentences with negative sentiment : 4.0 4.45695364238 90% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 2.0 4.27373068433 47% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.222298099494 0.272083759551 82% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0952700883647 0.0996497079465 96% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0801520624488 0.0662205650399 121% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.14882191135 0.162205337803 92% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0471085827628 0.0443174109184 106% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 13.9 13.3589403974 104% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 50.16 53.8541721854 93% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 5.55761589404 158% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 11.5 11.0289183223 104% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.88 12.2367328918 105% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.51 8.42419426049 101% => OK
difficult_words: 42.0 63.6247240618 66% => More difficult words wanted.
linsear_write_formula: 14.5 10.7273730684 135% => OK
gunning_fog: 10.4 10.498013245 99% => OK
text_standard: 9.0 11.2008830022 80% => OK
What are above readability scores?
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Minimum four paragraphs wanted. The correct pattern:
para 1: introduction
para 2: doubt 1
para 3: doubt 2
para 4: doubt 3
Less contents wanted from the reading passages(25%), more content wanted from the lecture (75%).
Don't need a conclusion paragraph.
Read sample essays from ETS:
http://www.testbig.com/users/toeflwritingmaster
Rates: 61.6666666667 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 18.5 Out of 30
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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.