be Capable of vs be able to

[qianruS779]

Hi,

I have a question about the difference between "be capable of" and "be able to". Are they interchangeable? Recently I did a SC question in OG16. The explanation is that the word able suggests agency, so it cannot apply to objects without life (in the question it refers to kitchen gadgets). However, "capable of " can be used in this context. Please Could you give me more explanation about that?

In the following forum, Ron highlighted that GMAT would prefer "ability to" to "capability of", so I would like to know if GMAT also prefers "be able to" to "be capable of"
http://www.beatthegmat.com/difference-b ... t9133.html

Thank you very much

Best, Song

[RonPurewal]

'living vs. nonliving' isn't really the issue. (for instance, it's perfectly correct to say that a particular bullet is able to pierce Kevlar body armor, even though a bullet is not alive.)

the issue is 'Are we talking about something that X can or can't do?'
if so, then '(un)able'/'(in)capable' is fine.
(in the above example we're actually talking about something that the bullet itself can do. so, that example is perfectly valid.)

on the other hand, if we're talking about something that someone else can or can't do WITH 'X', then it's inappropriate to say 'X is (un)able/(in)capable'.

read here:
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/foru ... tml#p94106

[RonPurewal]

what is the problem number of the problem you're citing?

thanks.

[qianruS779]

Hi Ron,

The problem I cited was OG16 GMAT VERBAL #63.

Thank you for your explanation, and I understand you point. I would like to ask you if there are some differences when choosing between be able of and be capable of. If you look at the question, OG chooses be capable of rather than be able to, one of reasons (there are other reasons related to meaning and comparative) is that able suggests agency, so how to understand the agency?

Thank you, Song

[RonPurewal]

nah. that difference is just there to distract you.
in general, 'capable' and 'able' have the same restrictions—you only use them when you're talking about what something/someone can actually do. here, that condition is satisfied, because we're talking about what the gadgets can do to people. thus either 'capable' or 'able' can be used here.

you can kill the first couple of choices because 'which' doesn't work.
in context, it's clear that 'which' describes the gadgets in general—not just the two examples that follow 'such as'—but 'which' is not allowed to jump over that entire modifier.

[RonPurewal]

also—i'm being generous with my responses in this thread, but, the OG books are banned here (per GMAC's request).

as i see it, that ban isn't just a technicality.
i.e., in general i won't allow this forum to devolve into 'let's all find ways to ask a bunch of questions about OG problems, just without mentioning the problems themselves'.
so, future posts about OG items may not be answered. (: