the ability to hold his breath_Veritas

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conquistador: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 266; Joined: Fri Sep 19, 2014 4:00 am; Thanked: 4 times; Followed by:1 members

the ability to hold his breath_Veritas

by conquistador » Fri Sep 11, 2015 1:21 pm

Turn-of-the-century magician Harry Houdini claimed, for his famous watertorture
cell trick, the ability to hold his breath for more than three minutes.
(A) the ability to hold his breath
(B) he has the ability of holding his breath
(C) the ability of him holding his breath
(D) to be able to hold his breath
(E) being able to hold his breath

I have a doubt as after "claimed" , "that" is required after it.
How come the sentence is right even if we missed it.

Also im confused between

Ability to do sth & able to do sth

which of them is correct and in what scenerios?

I believe ability of doing sth is wrong.

Please clairfy

OA is D

Last edited by conquistador on Fri Sep 11, 2015 11:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Fri Sep 11, 2015 1:21 pm

DavidG@VeritasPrep: Legendary Member; Posts: 2663; Joined: Wed Jan 14, 2015 8:25 am; Location: Boston, MA; Thanked: 1153 times; Followed by:128 members; GMAT Score:770

by DavidG@VeritasPrep » Fri Sep 11, 2015 4:39 pm

My usage guide wasn't overwhelmingly helpful on this, but here's how I think about the issue:

One meaning of claim is "to assert ownership of." For example: "I have come to claim my prize." The meaning: I have come to assert ownership of the prize. This construction proceeds as follows: claim + noun.

Another meaning of claim is "to assert as fact." For example: "He claimed that he could eat 100 hot dogs in a minute," or "he claimed to be able to eat 100 hot dogs." The meaning: he asserted as a fact that he could eat 100 hot dogs in a minute. This construction proceeds as follows: claim +"that clause" or claim + "infinitive phrase."

The problem with the clause "He claimed the ability," is that the construction is claim + noun, but the typical meaning with that construction is "to assert ownership of." I suppose one could debate whether "He asserted ownership of the ability," is sensible, but it certainly seems to make more sense to write "he claimed to be able..." (asserted as a fact that he was able...)

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anant03: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 70; Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2015 7:48 am

by anant03 » Fri Sep 11, 2015 11:38 pm

Hi Experts ,

Can you please give me a reason to eliminate option A.

Also please tell the difference between able to and ability to

Thanks...

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anant03: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 70; Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2015 7:48 am

by anant03 » Mon Sep 14, 2015 9:27 pm

Hi Experts ,

Please give some shed on my doubt .

Much thanks in advance.

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thang: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 111; Joined: Wed Oct 31, 2007 2:50 am; Thanked: 11 times

by thang » Thu Sep 17, 2015 8:21 pm

Mechmeera wrote:Turn-of-the-century magician Harry Houdini claimed, for his famous watertorture
cell trick, the ability to hold his breath for more than three minutes.
(A) the ability to hold his breath
(B) he has the ability of holding his breath
(C) the ability of him holding his breath
(D) to be able to hold his breath
(E) being able to hold his breath

IMO, never do we meet the choice between A and D

A is wrong because
claim the ability to hold his breath.

Ability here dose not belong the harry, it is general ability, so, ability to hold HIS breathe, is not logic.

it takes me a long time to figure out. of course, in test room , I can not do so

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