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Difficulty: MediumIdiomatic Word Choice

Read the following passage segment:

Although the new commercial drone is capable to fly in turbulent weather, the operators decided to postpone the survey flight until the storm subsided.

Which of the following options represents the correct idiomatic phrasing for the underlined portion of the sentence?

  1. A
    NO CHANGE
  2. capable of flyingAnswer
  3. C
    capable for flying
  4. D
    capable to be flying

Answer

capable of flying
The correct answer is 'capable of flying' because standard English usage dictates that the adjective 'capable' must be paired with the preposition 'of' followed by a gerund (a verb ending in -ing acting as a noun). Therefore, the construction 'capable of flying' is the only idiomatically correct choice.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the underlined phrase and the word that dictates the idiom.
The word is the adjective 'capable'.
Understanding which word governs the prepositional phrase is key to finding the correct idiomatic pairing.
2
Determine the standard idiomatic construction for 'capable'.
The adjective 'capable' must be paired with 'of' followed by a gerund ('capable of doing something').
Using any other preposition or the infinitive form (such as 'to fly') violates standard English idiomatic usage.
3
Evaluate the choices to find the one that fits this construction.
The phrase 'capable of flying' correctly uses the preposition 'of' and the gerund 'flying'.
This matches the required idiomatic pattern.

Key Concept

The adjective 'capable' must be followed by the preposition 'of' and a gerund (verb + -ing) to be idiomatically correct.
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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Topics

Idiomatic Word Choice

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