The phrase "ability to apply a" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used when discussing someone's skills or competencies in a specific context, often in professional or academic settings.
Example: "The candidate demonstrated a strong ability to apply a variety of analytical techniques to solve complex problems."
Alternatives: "capability to utilize a" or "skill in implementing a".
The ability to apply a calm, clear focus to the right tasks — at the right time, in the right way — is the key to exceptional results.
But the ability to apply a calm, clear focus to the right tasks — at the right time, in the right way — is the key to exceptional results.
"The ability to apply a voltage to one molecule and cause tautomerization of a neighboring one has interesting implications for logic devices," says Stoddart.
Widespread adoption of thermal spray technology requires the ability to apply a variety of coating materials, suited to each new application.
The emphasis in the course is on the ability to apply a small number of principles effectively and creatively, not the mastery of detailed aspects of the theory.
The trouble is, companies will have to start adding at least 200,000 new jobs a month to justify this optimism, especially now that the government's ability to apply a fiscal or monetary stimulus is so constrained.
The ability to apply an "I've listened to this" filter when you perform an audio search.
Michael Tye (2000) concedes that none of the abilities considered by Lewis is necessary for knowing what it is like and he discusses the following possible revision of the Ability Hypothesis: knowing what it is like to have an experience of red is the ability to apply an indexical concept to an experience of red (while having it) via introspection.
In this case, she still does not know what it is like to have red experiences although she has the ability to apply an indexical concept to her present experience (she has the ability, but, being distracted, she does not exercise it).
If the questions on a test measure little more than the ability to apply an algorithm mindlessly, then you can't use the results of that test to make pronouncements about this kid's (or this school's, or this state's, or this country's) proficiency at mathematical thinking.
However, our ability to apply an attentional set retrospectively, to information stored in visual short term memory (VSTM), is only beginning to be explored.
