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A near impossible literacy test Louisiana used to suppress the black vote

(www.openculture.com)
243 points rcarmo | 3 comments | 21 Oct 24 21:29 UTC | HN request time: 0.729s | source
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saagarjha ◴[21 Oct 24 23:07 UTC] No.41909496[source]▶
I’m curious if anyone has the solutions to these.
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jakelazaroff ◴[21 Oct 24 23:12 UTC] No.41909525[source]▶
The point is that the questions are phrased ambiguously such that a reviewer can credibly claim that a "correct" solution is wrong.

Take question 20:

> Spell backwards, forwards

Is "backwards" the object, with "forwards" describing how to spell it — as in, "Spell the word 'backwards', forwards"?

Or is it being used as an adverb, telling you how to spell the word "forwards" — as in, "Spell backwards the word 'forwards'"?

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1. lostmsu ◴[22 Oct 24 00:40 UTC] No.41910065[source]▶
With the comma the second interpretation seems inapplicable to me.
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2. jakelazaroff ◴[22 Oct 24 01:51 UTC] No.41910393[source]▶
It’s awkward, sure, but other questions use commas in that way. Question 19, immediately prior:

> Draw in the space below, a square with a triangle in it, and within that same triangle draw a circle with a black dot in it.

In that case, “a square with a triangle in it” is fairly unambiguously the object, which would make the sentence construction “[verb] [adverb], [object]” — exactly the same as the second interpretation of “Spell backwards, forwards”.

3. onionisafruit ◴[22 Oct 24 05:33 UTC] No.41911478[source]▶
It seems inapplicable to you, but it will probably seem very applicable to the test administrator who doesn’t want people like you voting.