I wanted to tell my friend that I had skills in persuading people. I stood for 5 minutes just thinking whether I should say "persuading skills", "persuasive skills", or "persuasion skills". To decide which one to use, I went searching online dictionaries, and it just created further confusion.

So my two-part question is as follows

1- What is the deciding factor for which form of a word you choose before the word "skill" or "ability" and other nouns, for instance we say "Negotiating skills Not negotiation skills" or "Communication skills Not communicative skills" although you could say, according to many dictionaries, "Communicative skills"

2- If part one is answered, then could you tell me how this deciding factor could answer which form of a word should be used in the following:

A. persuasive / persuading / persuasion skills

B. problem-solution skills / problem-solving skills

C. patience skills / patient skills"

IF THIS QUESTION IS BETTER POSED AT ENGLISH LANGUAGE & USAGE, PLEASE POST A COMMENT.

I wanted to tell my friend that I had skills in persuading people. I stood for 5 minutes just thinking whether I should say "persuading skills", "persuasive skills", or "persuasion skills". To decide which one to use, I went searching online dictionaries, and it just created further confusion.

So my two-part question is as follows

1- What is the deciding factor for which form of a word you choose before the word "skill" or "ability" and other nouns, for instance we say "Negotiating skills Not negotiation skills" or "Communication skills Not communicative skills" although you could say, according to many dictionaries, "Communicative skills"

2- If part one is answered, then could you tell me how this deciding factor could answer which form of a word should be used in the following:

A. persuasive / persuading / persuasion skills

B. problem-solution skills / problem-solving skills

C. patience skills / patient skills"

If this question is better posed at ELU, please post a comment.