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an ability v.s. ability



 
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ESL Forums | English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
usage of ABOVE | Test of vocabulary: How many meanings of the words in the paragraph below?
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an ability v.s. ability Thu Mar 27, 2008 23:59 pm  an ability v.s. ability		  
Hi, everybody !

I took these 2 sentences from an English exercise:
Quote:
1. He has considerable ability
2. He has a natural ability to play the piano

Could you tell me if in sentence 1 we can put the indefinite article a before the word "ability" and in sentence 2 the article a can be dropped?

Thanks a lot !
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How much upchuck would a woodchuck upchuck if a woodchuck could upchuck ?

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lost_soul
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an ability v.s. ability Fri Mar 28, 2008 0:08 am  an ability v.s. ability		  
well you cannot put an 'a' in front of considerable because it is not definite, you dont know exactly how much, and with a natural ability it is about one certain ability specified

btw i'm also a non-native speaker
traveler
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an ability v.s. ability Fri Mar 28, 2008 13:36 pm  an ability v.s. ability		  
Hi, Traveller

Thanks for your thoughts. Smile
But to remove doubts from the matter, could a native English speaker have a whirl at it, please?
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an ability v.s. ability Fri Mar 28, 2008 14:58 pm  an ability v.s. ability		  
The first sentence indicates that he is a capable person in general, and you couldn't put "a" before it.

In the second sentence, the person has the specific ability to play the piano -- therefore you use "a" -- but he may not be a capable person in general. There are some retarded people who are geniuses at playing the piano, for example, but in general they don't have a lot of ability.
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an ability v.s. ability Fri Mar 28, 2008 15:04 pm  an ability v.s. ability		  
Quote:
well you cannot put an 'a' in front of considerable because it is not definite, you dont know exactly how much,

?He has a considerable sum of money hidden under the bed.
Molly
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an ability v.s. ability Fri Mar 28, 2008 15:07 pm  an ability v.s. ability		  
Molly wrote:
Quote:
well you cannot put an 'a' in front of considerable because it is not definite, you dont know exactly how much,

?He has a considerable sum of money hidden under the bed.

It has nothing to do with the word "considerable". It's all about the noun that comes after it. Article usage is based on the noun, not on the adjective.
Jamie (K)
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an ability v.s. ability Fri Mar 28, 2008 15:16 pm  an ability v.s. ability		  
Hi, Jamie

Thank you very much !

Jamie (K) wrote:
There are some retarded people who are geniuses at playing the piano, for example, but in general they don't have a lot of ability.

I just remembered a word for those people: idiot savants, right? Wink
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Alex

How much upchuck would a woodchuck upchuck if a woodchuck could upchuck ?

(a guy from Russia)
lost_soul
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Joined: 15 Sep 2006
Posts: 1812
Location: South Park, Colorado, USA
an ability v.s. ability Fri Mar 28, 2008 17:05 pm  an ability v.s. ability		  
Jamie (K) wrote:
Molly wrote:
Quote:
well you cannot put an 'a' in front of considerable because it is not definite, you dont know exactly how much,

?He has a considerable sum of money hidden under the bed.

It has nothing to do with the word "considerable". It's all about the noun that comes after it. Article usage is based on the noun, not on the adjective.

Tell that to traveler.
Molly
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an ability v.s. ability Fri Mar 28, 2008 17:06 pm  an ability v.s. ability		  
lost_soul wrote:
Hi, Jamie

Thank you very much !

Jamie (K) wrote:
There are some retarded people who are geniuses at playing the piano, for example, but in general they don't have a lot of ability.

I just remembered a word for those people: idiot savants, right? Wink

It is a mistake to think of such people as geniuses.
Molly
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Joined: 12 Feb 2008
Posts: 3822
an ability v.s. ability Fri Mar 28, 2008 17:54 pm  an ability v.s. ability		  
what does traveler need to know? i might have given an inadequate explanation, i should have used countable instead of definite, sorry!
and yes it refers to nouns
traveler
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usage of ABOVE | Test of vocabulary: How many meanings of the words in the paragraph below?
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