Common Mistakes : Capacity

noun

.BAD: This type of job requires special capacities
.GOOD: This type of job requires special skills

.BAD: I wish to improve my speaking and listening capacities
.GOOD: I wish to improve my speaking and listening skills

capacity = the power or quality that makes someone able to do, experience, give or receive something
.These children display an extraordinary capacity for learning
.Man’s capacity for love and generosity is unlimited

skill = what someone needs to have learned before they can actually do a particular job or activity
.Being a good manager requires a number of highly specialized skills
.This course is designed to develop the student’s reading and writing skills

.BAD: The atomic bomb has given man the capacity of self-destruction
.GOOD: The atomic bomb has given man the capacity for self-destruction

 : capacity for sth
.He has an enormous capacity for hard work

: capacity to do sth
.The human race shows an extraordinary capacity to change with the times