This paper investigates the concept of skills or abilities using the distinction between ‘knowing that’ and ‘knowing how', as put forward by Gilbert Ryle in his 1949 book The Concept of Mind. The assertion of two forms of knowledge suggests the possibility that skills can be represented in propositional language. However, in the analysis of activities it is frequently shown that skills cannot be described ‘in words', but at best can be indicated. On the other hand, speaking is itself a skill. If we accept Karl Bühler’s (1934) use of the concept of context we see that he describes representative language above all as a skill. The paper closes with a consideration of whether and, if so, to what extent it is possible to square these two conceptions of language.