Amtrak
Recently, there has been a debate about whether the government should own Amtrak, an intercity train service owned by the United States government, or sell it to a privately-owned company. Specifically, in regard to the passage, the writer puts forth the idea that the government should no longer own the train service. However, according to the listening text, the professor is quick to point out there are some serious flaws in the writer's claim. In fact, she believes that the government should own Amtrak and should not sell it to a privately-owned company, and addresses, in detail, the trouble with each point made by the writer.
First and foremost, the author of the passage believes that the government has lost money on many Amtrak routes, especially the ones running in remote and less populated areas. Instead, these unprofitable routes could be cut if the train service is sold to a privately-owned company. However, some experts in the same field stand in firm opposition to this idea. For example, the professor in the lecture states that this viewpoint neglects the fact that the main purpose of Amtrak is not to make profit, but to provide needed train system to the United States. Even though it is true that the train system is currently underused in the remote areas, the lecturer argues that people living in remote areas have just the right to the government service as people living in those accessible areas do. Therefore, it will be unfair for the privately-owned company to cut such routes simply because they are unprofitable. In this way, the train system should not be sold to the privately-owned company and should be owned by the government.
Moreover, one group of scholars, represented by the writer, suggests that it is unfair for the government to own Amtrak to other transportation companies, including the airlines. Since the government funds Amtrak, which helps it reduce the ticket prices, it will lead to injustice in the competition within the transportation market, especially for other industries that are not able to lower ticket prices without government funding. Of course, though, not all experts in this field believe this is accurate. Again, the professor specifically deals with this point when she contends that the United States government has supported airline in all ways in fact. For example, the government has helped the airline industry to pay bills for its training for the officers and for its satellites to ensure the operation of the system. In this way, it is completely wrong to argue that the airline industry has not benefited from the government funding. What's more, since the airline industry will surely be unable to exist without financial support if owned by the private company, it will be unfair to suggest the Amtrak be owned by the private company either.
Last but not least, the writer brings his argument to a close by stating that the government should spend its money elsewhere if it wants to support national transportation since rail travel is relatively unimportant for the United States. Not surprisingly, the lecturer takes issue with this claim when she states that it is simply because the train service in United States is out of date. However, if the train becomes affordable and fast, it will be used much more widely. For example, in Japan and Europe, where the governments invested high-speed railway, the train line soon became popular in those areas. Therefore, if the United States government invest more money to the Amtrak, the situation will surely be improved in the future. In this way, it will be unwise for the government to sell the train service to privately-owned companies.
Therefore, both the writer and the professor have conflicting views about whether the government should own Amtrak. It is clear that they will have trouble finding common ground on this issue.
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Comments
Essay evaluations by e-grader
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 5, column 230, Rule ID: IT_VBZ[1]
Message: Did you mean 'reduces'?
Suggestion: reduces
...government funds Amtrak, which helps it reduce the ticket prices, it will lead to inju...
^^^^^^
Line 5, column 949, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: What's
... benefited from the government funding. Whats more, since the airline industry will s...
^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
but, first, however, if, moreover, so, therefore, for example, in fact, of course, in regard to, it is true
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 26.0 10.4613686534 249% => Less to be verbs wanted.
Auxiliary verbs: 17.0 5.04856512141 337% => Less auxiliary verb wanted.
Conjunction : 12.0 7.30242825607 164% => OK
Relative clauses : 18.0 12.0772626932 149% => OK
Pronoun: 50.0 22.412803532 223% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 76.0 30.3222958057 251% => Less preposition wanted.
Nominalization: 25.0 5.01324503311 499% => Less nominalizations (nouns with a suffix like: tion ment ence ance) wanted.
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 3245.0 1373.03311258 236% => Less number of characters wanted.
No of words: 641.0 270.72406181 237% => Less content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.0624024961 5.08290768461 100% => OK
Fourth root words length: 5.0316973083 4.04702891845 124% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.74191519094 2.5805825403 106% => OK
Unique words: 270.0 145.348785872 186% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.421216848674 0.540411800872 78% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 999.9 419.366225166 238% => syllable counts are too long.
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.55342163355 103% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 9.0 3.25607064018 276% => Less pronouns wanted as sentence beginning.
Article: 14.0 8.23620309051 170% => OK
Subordination: 5.0 1.25165562914 399% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 3.0 1.51434878587 198% => OK
Preposition: 11.0 2.5761589404 427% => Less preposition wanted as sentence beginnings.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 26.0 13.0662251656 199% => OK
Sentence length: 24.0 21.2450331126 113% => OK
Sentence length SD: 50.8343405339 49.2860985944 103% => OK
Chars per sentence: 124.807692308 110.228320801 113% => OK
Words per sentence: 24.6538461538 21.698381199 114% => OK
Discourse Markers: 4.11538461538 7.06452816374 58% => More transition words/phrases wanted.
Paragraphs: 5.0 4.09492273731 122% => OK
Language errors: 2.0 4.19205298013 48% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 9.0 4.33554083885 208% => Less positive sentences wanted.
Sentences with negative sentiment : 12.0 4.45695364238 269% => Less negative sentences wanted.
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 5.0 4.27373068433 117% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.147883982584 0.272083759551 54% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0550396278881 0.0996497079465 55% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0773271746279 0.0662205650399 117% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.110454380549 0.162205337803 68% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0311850416645 0.0443174109184 70% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 14.7 13.3589403974 110% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 47.12 53.8541721854 87% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 5.55761589404 158% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 12.7 11.0289183223 115% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.36 12.2367328918 101% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.13 8.42419426049 97% => OK
difficult_words: 134.0 63.6247240618 211% => Less difficult words wanted.
linsear_write_formula: 13.5 10.7273730684 126% => OK
gunning_fog: 11.6 10.498013245 110% => OK
text_standard: 13.0 11.2008830022 116% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Write the essay in 20 minutes.
Rates: 73.3333333333 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 22.0 Out of 30
---------------------
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.
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 5, column 230, Rule ID: IT_VBZ[1]
Message: Did you mean 'reduces'?
Suggestion: reduces
...government funds Amtrak, which helps it reduce the ticket prices, it will lead to inju...
^^^^^^
Line 5, column 949, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: What's
... benefited from the government funding. Whats more, since the airline industry will s...
^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
but, first, however, if, moreover, so, therefore, for example, in fact, of course, in regard to, it is true
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 26.0 10.4613686534 249% => Less to be verbs wanted.
Auxiliary verbs: 17.0 5.04856512141 337% => Less auxiliary verb wanted.
Conjunction : 12.0 7.30242825607 164% => OK
Relative clauses : 18.0 12.0772626932 149% => OK
Pronoun: 50.0 22.412803532 223% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 76.0 30.3222958057 251% => Less preposition wanted.
Nominalization: 25.0 5.01324503311 499% => Less nominalizations (nouns with a suffix like: tion ment ence ance) wanted.
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 3245.0 1373.03311258 236% => Less number of characters wanted.
No of words: 641.0 270.72406181 237% => Less content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.0624024961 5.08290768461 100% => OK
Fourth root words length: 5.0316973083 4.04702891845 124% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.74191519094 2.5805825403 106% => OK
Unique words: 270.0 145.348785872 186% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.421216848674 0.540411800872 78% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 999.9 419.366225166 238% => syllable counts are too long.
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.55342163355 103% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 9.0 3.25607064018 276% => Less pronouns wanted as sentence beginning.
Article: 14.0 8.23620309051 170% => OK
Subordination: 5.0 1.25165562914 399% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 3.0 1.51434878587 198% => OK
Preposition: 11.0 2.5761589404 427% => Less preposition wanted as sentence beginnings.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 26.0 13.0662251656 199% => OK
Sentence length: 24.0 21.2450331126 113% => OK
Sentence length SD: 50.8343405339 49.2860985944 103% => OK
Chars per sentence: 124.807692308 110.228320801 113% => OK
Words per sentence: 24.6538461538 21.698381199 114% => OK
Discourse Markers: 4.11538461538 7.06452816374 58% => More transition words/phrases wanted.
Paragraphs: 5.0 4.09492273731 122% => OK
Language errors: 2.0 4.19205298013 48% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 9.0 4.33554083885 208% => Less positive sentences wanted.
Sentences with negative sentiment : 12.0 4.45695364238 269% => Less negative sentences wanted.
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 5.0 4.27373068433 117% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.147883982584 0.272083759551 54% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0550396278881 0.0996497079465 55% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0773271746279 0.0662205650399 117% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.110454380549 0.162205337803 68% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0311850416645 0.0443174109184 70% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 14.7 13.3589403974 110% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 47.12 53.8541721854 87% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 5.55761589404 158% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 12.7 11.0289183223 115% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.36 12.2367328918 101% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.13 8.42419426049 97% => OK
difficult_words: 134.0 63.6247240618 211% => Less difficult words wanted.
linsear_write_formula: 13.5 10.7273730684 126% => OK
gunning_fog: 11.6 10.498013245 110% => OK
text_standard: 13.0 11.2008830022 116% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Write the essay in 20 minutes.
Rates: 73.3333333333 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 22.0 Out of 30
---------------------
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.