The use of "Enable"

[Sophie12345]

Hi, i have a question concerning the formation of additional explanation to commands used in programmes, on platforms, etc. What I mean is, e.g. the command “Delete” to which the explanation, e.g. “Enables deleting columns” is given. My query concerns the verb “Enable” – as we know, it is used with genitives – e.g. “My skills enabled me to win the competition” or a pure noun follows the verb - “My pocket money enabled my trip”. Thus can I use the verb in a structure: Enable doing sth? (“Enables deleting columns), in which the verb “delete” is changed to a noun (with –ing ending)? I’m not a native speaker and I’m trying to find the best way to form such ‘explanations’. As I have observed people tend to use the structure, e.g.: “Enables to delete”, which seems to be wrong; some even use the verb “allow” as in the case: “It allows to delete column”, which I eliminate as “to allow” has slightly different meaning. Please, comment on the matter and say which structure is correct and does not sound unnatural.
Thank you

 

[bhaisahab]

They all sound pretty unnatural to me. Why not simple 'Deletes selected text'.

 

[GoesStation]

... I have observed people tend to use the structure, e.g.: “Enables to delete”, which seems to be wrong ....

That is wrong. I think you may be looking at instructions written by non-native English speakers.

A screen could have a checkbox labeled "Allow delete" or "Enable delete"; if so, this is a shorter way to say "Allow/enable the 'delete' command." "Enable deletion" would be grammatically correct but might not be as clear to the users. In another common case, a screen may display a table of data in which one column, containing a checkbox for each row, is labeled "Delete". Checking the box does not delete the row; rather, it selects the row for deletion if the user clicks a "Delete" button.