24 DECEMBER 1988, Page 56

Unpleasingly precise

Sir: You stated that 'Few of us [now] doubt that standards of literacy have fallen,' (Leading article, 19 November).

You did not state to whom 'us' referred.

You did not state the classes of persons whose literacy might have declined, nor they whose standards might have fallen.

You did not state the period during which the fall may have taken place.

You did not attach a clear meaning to the word 'literacy'. (It should have some- thing to do with writing.) These failings indicate how much more important it is to be precise than to write pleasingly.

Laurence Target United Oxford & Cambridge University Club, 7 Pall Mall,

London SW1