The phrase "able to apply a" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used when discussing someone's capability to utilize a specific skill, knowledge, or method in a particular context.
Example: "She is able to apply a variety of techniques to solve complex problems in her research."
Alternatives: "capable of applying a" or "skilled in applying a".
That's the thing I love most about my PhD: being able to apply a non-bird person's approach to solve a bird problem.
"Only now, one year later, am I really able to apply a lot of it because it was so intensive at the time.
More commonly, success comes when doctors are able to apply a name to a known disease that has eluded the diagnosis of other specialists.
"We've been able to apply a lot of pressure five on five, and most of the game is played five on five, so it's great that we've been able to be so successful," Bruins forward Milan Lucic said this week.
None of the governments engaged in regulating farm prices and incomes has been able to apply a meaningful standard as to what a fair price or reasonable income is.
Failing to return your form by the deadline will incur an initial charge of £100, but if you still haven't returned the form by 31 July, another £100 penalty will be slapped on, after which HMRC is able to apply a fee of as much as £60 a day.
Since then, Israeli mathematician Elon Lindenstrauss, Austrian mathematician Manfred Einsiedler, and Russian American mathematician Anatole Katok have been able to apply a powerful generalization of the methods of ergodic theory pioneered by Russian mathematician Grigory Margulis to show that Littlewood's conjecture in number theory is true for all but a very small set of integers.
Blackpool's Tom Ince was equally impressive, without being able to apply a finish.
This is encouraging, as it is desirable to be able to apply a calibrated safety model to various freeway sections.
I wanted to be able to apply a different "skin" or wall covering that was separate from the blocks themselves.
Moreover, from our proof of (1) and the corresponding generalizations we are able to apply a standard argument and find (L^p) versions of the inequalities.
