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the ability to hold his breath_Veritas

Expert replies
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: — Sentence Correction |

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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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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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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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
looking for the girl living in Bradford UK, visiting Halong bay, Vietnam on 26- 27 Jan 2014. all persons, pls, forward this message to all persons you know to help me find her: my email: [email protected], call: 84904812758
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by thang » Mon Oct 26, 2015 3:25 am
in a and e
ability and being able do not refer to the subject grammatically and so become not logic.

very nice and hard question.
looking for the girl living in Bradford UK, visiting Halong bay, Vietnam on 26- 27 Jan 2014. all persons, pls, forward this message to all persons you know to help me find her: my email: [email protected], call: 84904812758
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