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Difference between 'Ability' and 'Capability'

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Difference between 'Ability' and 'Capability'

by nitin86 » Sat Mar 08, 2008 10:48 pm
I'm not able to differentiate between 'ability' and 'capability'.

May I ask someone to please help.

Sulfur dioxide, a major contributor to acid rain, is an especially serious pollutant because it diminishes the respiratory system’s ability to deal with all other pollutants.

(A) an especially serious pollutant because it diminishes the respiratory system’s ability to deal
(B) an especially serious pollutant because of diminishing the respiratory system’s capability of dealing
(C) an especially serious pollutant because it diminishes the capability of the respiratory system in dealing
(D) a specially serious pollutant because it diminishes the capability of the respiratory system to deal
(E) a specially serious pollutant because of diminishing the respiratory system’s ability to deal

The correct answer is 'A'. How we reached at it ?

TIA
Nitin

PS - I tried searching for this on the forum, but could not find any helpful material
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by gmatguy16 » Sun Mar 09, 2008 8:49 am
Nitin,if you are not able to distinguish bwteen ability and capability i am not able to distinguish between aspecially and specially..imo d
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Re: Difference between 'Ability' and 'Capability'

by lunarpower » Mon Mar 10, 2008 12:30 pm
nitin86 wrote:I'm not able to differentiate between 'ability' and 'capability'.

May I ask someone to please help.

Sulfur dioxide, a major contributor to acid rain, is an especially serious pollutant because it diminishes the respiratory system’s ability to deal with all other pollutants.

(A) an especially serious pollutant because it diminishes the respiratory system’s ability to deal
(B) an especially serious pollutant because of diminishing the respiratory system’s capability of dealing
(C) an especially serious pollutant because it diminishes the capability of the respiratory system in dealing
(D) a specially serious pollutant because it diminishes the capability of the respiratory system to deal
(E) a specially serious pollutant because of diminishing the respiratory system’s ability to deal

The correct answer is 'A'. How we reached at it ?

TIA
Nitin

PS - I tried searching for this on the forum, but could not find any helpful material
there definitely isn't a firm distinction between the two; their definitions overlap to a great extent, if not completely.

what i would take from this example is that the gmat considers 'capability of X-ing' wordy/awkward, and prefers 'ability to X'. as a native english speaker, i would agree with the gmat makers on this: 'capability of dealing with' just sounds horrible to me.

so memorize this as a matter of idiomatic usage. there doesn't necessarily have to be a good reason; that's just the way it is.

sorry there's no concrete reason!
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by gmat765 » Thu Apr 17, 2008 4:28 pm
ability to, capability of, that is the difference.
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by barron » Fri May 09, 2008 2:58 am
is there any difference between these 2 sentences
if these are also included as answer choics, which one would be more appropriate?

an especially serious pollutant because it diminishes the respiratory system’s ability to deal

an especially serious pollutant because of diminishing the respiratory system’s ability to deal
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Just a concise way of putting the meaning

by pvnkreddy » Sat May 10, 2008 5:58 am
That's the only difference between A and C.

Just a concise way of putting the meaning.

diminishes the _____________ ability to
diminishes the capability of _____________ in
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by chidcguy » Mon May 12, 2008 3:13 pm
able to and capable of both mean the same, but the idiomatic usage is what makes the choices right or wrong

We do not need to change the adverb especially to specially which leads to a different meaning. D & E are out

B has a weird usage of because of.

Between A and C ability to deal is concise and capability of dealing sounds awkward.

I also felt that capability is nothing but the state of ability and when we have a direct reference to that state in a concise fashion we should stick with it. As some one said it's probably a GMAT preference. Just like GMAT prefers considered X Y to considered X as Y.
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by arorag » Mon May 12, 2008 6:23 pm
barron wrote:is there any difference between these 2 sentences
if these are also included as answer choics, which one would be more appropriate?

an especially serious pollutant because it diminishes the respiratory system’s ability to deal

an especially serious pollutant because of diminishing the respiratory system’s ability to deal
I think only 1st one is corr
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by annakool1009 » Thu Jul 31, 2008 4:56 am
arorag wrote:
barron wrote:is there any difference between these 2 sentences
if these are also included as answer choics, which one would be more appropriate?

an especially serious pollutant because it diminishes the respiratory system’s ability to deal

an especially serious pollutant because of diminishing the respiratory system’s ability to deal
I think only 1st one is corr
----------------------------------------------------
The first one would be correct. "Because OF diminishing" sounds awkward in the context of the sentence.

"Because IT diminishes" is more direct and concise usage.
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by vineetbatra » Sat Apr 10, 2010 12:07 pm
Ron,

In a different post you mentioned that Because of VerbIng is an incorrect usage. So B will be wrong because of this reason.

Please confirm.

Thanks,

Vineet
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by pradeepkaushal9518 » Sat Apr 10, 2010 9:24 pm
gmat prefers simplicity hence ability to is better than capability of
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by akhpad » Sat Apr 10, 2010 9:40 pm
vineetbatra wrote:Ron,

In a different post you mentioned that Because of VerbIng is an incorrect usage. So B will be wrong because of this reason.

Please confirm.

Thanks,

Vineet
Because of X, Y -> X should be noun / noun phrase

Because of X + verb+ing -> this is wrong. This can be true only when X is in possessive case. As gerund requires possessive case.
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by akhpad » Sat Apr 10, 2010 9:42 pm
Ron has discussed in detail in his free lecture about this problem.

https://www.manhattangmat.com/thursdays-with-ron.cfm Date:Thursday, November 12, 2009

I hope you love it.
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by vineetbatra » Sun Apr 11, 2010 12:03 pm
Thanks,

I am going to attend the next one also.

Vineet
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by mayank11881 » Sat Aug 28, 2010 5:16 am
lunarpower wrote:
nitin86 wrote:I'm not able to differentiate between 'ability' and 'capability'.

May I ask someone to please help.

Sulfur dioxide, a major contributor to acid rain, is an especially serious pollutant because it diminishes the respiratory system�s ability to deal with all other pollutants.

(A) an especially serious pollutant because it diminishes the respiratory system�s ability to deal
(B) an especially serious pollutant because of diminishing the respiratory system�s capability of dealing
(C) an especially serious pollutant because it diminishes the capability of the respiratory system in dealing
(D) a specially serious pollutant because it diminishes the capability of the respiratory system to deal
(E) a specially serious pollutant because of diminishing the respiratory system�s ability to deal

The correct answer is 'A'. How we reached at it ?

TIA
Nitin

PS - I tried searching for this on the forum, but could not find any helpful material
there definitely isn't a firm distinction between the two; their definitions overlap to a great extent, if not completely.

what i would take from this example is that the gmat considers 'capability of X-ing' wordy/awkward, and prefers 'ability to X'. as a native english speaker, i would agree with the gmat makers on this: 'capability of dealing with' just sounds horrible to me.

so memorize this as a matter of idiomatic usage. there doesn't necessarily have to be a good reason; that's just the way it is.

sorry there's no concrete reason!


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