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Hotmale Posted 8 years ago
Grammar

Capable at sth

Hello,

I've seen somewhere a sentence: "The child was less capable at a chore ....", but when I looked "capable" in a dictionary, I read that the common collocation is "capable of".

Does it mean that the sentence I came across is wrong, or maybe it's correct, though not very common, to say that someone is (less) capable at sth?

Thank you

  

Top answer

I can't see the whole sentence from here, but I'd say the sentence you saw was wrong judging by the information you've given here. 'capable at' is virtually non-existent unless the 'at' belongs to a different phrase, thus: The flood was capable at any moment of sweeping them away. CJ

  • I can't see the whole sentence from here, but I'd say the sentence you saw was wrong judging by the information you've given here.
  • 'capable at' is virtually non-existent unless the 'at' belongs to a different phrase, thus: The flood was capable at any moment of sweeping them away.
  • CJ
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2 Answers
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I can't see the whole sentence from here, but I'd say the sentence you saw was wrong judging by the information you've given here.

'capable at' is virtually non-existent unless the 'at' belongs to a different phrase, thus: The flood was capable at any moment of sweeping them away.

CJ

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That usage of "capable" strikes my ear as modern psychobabble. The plain English of it would be more like "the child was not as good at a chore ...."

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