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vicksikand
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Post subject: Re: SC  Posted: Sat Dec 11, 2010 9:39 pm |
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Posts: 38
Location: Texas
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RonPurewal wrote: hi -
normally you're supposed to, at a minimum, ask some sort of question about the problem. you're not supposed to just post it with no commentary, as if it had accidentally fallen out of a grocery bag.
this problem is a pure test of word choice / idiomatic expression. that's a situation that i don't see often on official problems; it's almost as though the gmat is taking cheap potshots at the (great many) non-native speakers of english who take the test.
* "specially", which means "in a special way", is incorrect here. (example of correct use: "the specially crafted exclusive edition of this car costs more than the standard edition") you want "especially", which means "in particular" or "more so than all the others". therefore D and E are gone.
* "capability of ____ing" and "capability in ____ing" are unidiomatic, so B and C are gone.
those two are enough, but note also:
* "because of ____ing", where ____ing is a verb participle, is unidiomatic, so B and E are gone.
NOTE: be careful with this elimination. if ____ing is an adjective, not a participle, then "because of ____ing NOUN" is a perfectly acceptable structure, as in "because of diminishing returns, i don't get as much interest from my bank account anymore". I was thrown off-balance by this* difference between specially and especially. Other than the erroneous usage of specially in (D) is there any other error in that option? X's ability to deal Y and Capability of X to deal with Y both seem grammatically correct and both seem to convey the same meaning.
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ChrisB
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Post subject: Re: SC Posted: Sun Dec 12, 2010 2:30 pm |
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Posts: 91
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Hi, Ron answered your question regarding D earlier on in the post: Quote: * "capability of ____ing" and "capability in ____ing" are unidiomatic, so B and C are gone. He didn't list D in this case but D uses "capability of/in" instead of "ability to." Quote: D. a specially serious pollutant because it diminishes the capability of the respiratory system to deal Thanks, Chris
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Chris Brusznicki
MGMAT Instructor
Chicago, IL
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vicksikand
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Post subject: Re: SC Posted: Sun Dec 12, 2010 10:23 pm |
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Posts: 38
Location: Texas
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ChrisB wrote: Hi, Ron answered your question regarding D earlier on in the post: Quote: * "capability of ____ing" and "capability in ____ing" are unidiomatic, so B and C are gone. He didn't list D in this case but D uses "capability of/in" instead of "ability to." Quote: D. a specially serious pollutant because it diminishes the capability of the respiratory system to deal Thanks, Chris So is "Capability of X to deal with Y" incorrect? X's ability is correct - now is this is a concision issue? Meaning wise both seem correct. Thanks....Vik
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tim
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Post subject: Re: SC Posted: Tue Dec 14, 2010 4:28 pm |
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Location: Southwest Airlines, seat 21C
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not at all. this is not a concision issue; you want to look instead at how the "ability" or "capability" is used in the sentence and go with the correct idiom. you always deal with idioms as the last grammar issue, but still before concision or even meaning..
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Tim Sanders
Manhattan GMAT Instructor
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jp.jprasanna
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Post subject: Re: SC Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2012 4:52 pm |
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StaceyKoprince wrote: someone/something is capable OF something (noun)
She is capable of running swiftly.
someone/something has the capability TO do (verb) something
She has the capability to run swiftly.
not as common: someone/something has the capability of someone or something else (noun)
She has the capability of a gazelle. Thanks Stacey.. So ability/able to is the correct Idiom? Or are there any other forms? Cheers JP
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jp.jprasanna
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Post subject: Re: SC Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2012 4:59 pm |
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OK thought of another example for ability.. is the below correct?
GMAT tests ability OF an individual's thinking capacity.
If the above is correct how to decide whether to go with ability of / to?
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RonPurewal
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Post subject: Re: SC Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2012 7:30 am |
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jp.jprasanna wrote: GMAT tests ability OF an individual's thinking capacity. "capacity" means "ability", so this construction would be redundant. you'd just say "an individual's thinking capacity", "an individual's capacity for thinking", or "an individual's ability to think".
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zhongshanlh
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Post subject: Re: SC Posted: Fri May 18, 2012 4:35 am |
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RonPurewal wrote: those two are enough, but note also:
* "because of ____ing", where ____ing is a verb participle, is unidiomatic, so B and E are gone.
NOTE: be careful with this elimination. if ____ing is an adjective, not a participle, then "because of ____ing NOUN" is a perfectly acceptable structure, as in "because of diminishing returns, i don't get as much interest from my bank account anymore". hi,Ron, i am confused about ur explanation here. i think that after the preposition "of",we need a noun. i think the "diminishing" is a gerund here so it is correctly used here. what is wrong about my thought?please help and thank you very much.
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