In the following passage, some of the words have been left out. Read the passage carefully and select the correct answer for the given blank out of the four alternatives. Sentence for this blank: “Some always love to chit-chat with friends or family: encourage them so they have the ability to ___________.”

Introduction / Context:
This cloze passage sentence describes people who enjoy chit chatting with friends or family and suggests that such people may have a special verbal or linguistic talent. The structure “have the ability to _________” requires a particular grammatical form after the infinitive marker to. Your task is to pick the form that fits both the grammar and the meaning of the sentence.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• Sentence: “Some always love to chit-chat with friends or family: encourage them so they have the ability to ___________.”
• Options: narration, narrating, narrate, narrator.
• The surrounding passage refers to gifts of verbal or linguistic creativity, telling stories and writing.
• We need a verb in its base form after to in “ability to …”.

Concept / Approach:
After phrases like ability to, the standard pattern is to + base form of the verb (the infinitive). This suggests we should choose narrate, which is the base verb meaning “to tell a story or describe events”. Narration is a noun, narrating is a gerund/participle, and narrator is a noun referring to the person who narrates. In this sentence, we are talking about what the people are able to do, not what they are or what their action is called as a noun, so the verb narrate is required.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Identify the pattern: “have the ability to + verb” needs a base verb after to.Evaluate narrate: base verb meaning to tell a story, fits perfectly after to.Evaluate narration: noun meaning the act or process of telling a story; cannot follow to in this structure.Evaluate narrating: gerund/participle; we do not say “ability to narrating”.Evaluate narrator: noun meaning the person who narrates; again does not fit after “ability to”.Therefore, narrate is the only grammatically correct and meaningful choice.

Verification / Alternative check:
Insert each option into the sentence:“ability to narration” – incorrect; the noun narration does not follow to properly.“ability to narrating” – ungrammatical; English does not pair ability to with an -ing form.“ability to narrate” – correct; expresses the capability to tell stories or describe events.“ability to narrator” – incorrect; narrator is a person, not an action.Only “ability to narrate” sounds natural and matches textbook grammar.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Narration names the process or style of telling a story, as in “the narration of the film”. Narrating is the continuous or gerund form of narrate and would require different phrasing, such as “good at narrating stories”. Narrator is used for a person in a book or film who tells the story. None of these forms can directly follow to in the phrase “ability to …”, which demands a base form of the verb like narrate.

Common Pitfalls:
Many learners know that narrating, narration and narrator are all related to telling stories and therefore might be tempted to choose them based on meaning alone. However, cloze questions often hinge on precise grammar patterns. A good habit is to check the immediate environment of the blank: prepositions and verbs like to, for, of often dictate what grammatical form can follow. When you see ability to, you should automatically think of a base verb such as speak, write, sing or narrate. This will help you avoid common mistakes.

Final Answer:
The correct word to fill the blank is narrate, giving: “Some always love to chit-chat with friends or family: encourage them so they have the ability to narrate.”