Numeracy and literacy is...

So this is the last photo post before I return from holiday. Tomorrow it's back to the opinionated ramblings and bizarre product reviews!

Anyway, I took this snap in Sutton, rather furtively in case the nice men promoting the courses took exception.



"Numeracy and literacy is..."? Is that the sort of numeracy that enables you to count the number of subjects in a clause, and the sort of literacy that enables you to achieve subject-verb agreement?

Well, it made me laugh.

5 comments:

Stan said...

The second sentence (I use the word advisedly, since there are no full stops) is a poor one too: its syntax and formatting both contribute to needless ambiguity. A reader could interpret it as: "We can offer careers advice (that is) so informed, choices can be made[.]"

Also, choices made by whom? The passive voice here makes the blurb hopelessly vague. And while I'm at it, why "can"? Do they offer advice, or don't they? Is their advice only potential, or contingent on some unspecified variable?

Thus: "We offer careers advice so you can make informed choices."

That's "careers" with a small "c": this isn't German, after all. Finally, I can't resist asking: what does the tap signify? That they have advice on tap? Was its meaning made explicit? It does seem that the greater the irony, the less apparent it is to its subject.

Fran Hill said...

My informed choice would be not to go on any of their courses ...

JD (The Engine Room) said...

Stan, I wouldn't read to much into the tap. I think it's just that one of the courses on offer is plumbing...

Stan said...

JD: Ah, okay. In that case you need another washer - I mean lower-case 'o' - in 'too'.

JD (The Engine Room) said...

Damn! In my defence, I'd spent the previous day travelling and my brain was mush (or more mushy than normal).