Idioms - Distinguish

[rohansingal]

Hi,

Can an instructor please respond to this question?

I am confused on the idiom for "Distinguish". On pg. 64 of the MGMAT Sentence Correction strategy guide, it says the idiom is "distinguish x from y". However, on page 190 of the guide, it says the idiom is "distinguished between x and y". It seems that the latter option is correct on one of the problems in the official guide as well. Can someone clarify which is the correct option or if both are correct?

Thanks,
Rohan

[esledge]

Both can be correct. The usage depends on intended meaning.
Our current guide (version 4) says:

RIGHT: The investor DISTINGUISHED BETWEEN trends AND fads.
RIGHT: There is a DISTINCTION BETWEEN trends AND fads.
SUSPECT: The investor DISTINGUISHED trends FROM fads.

WRONG:
distinguished X and Y
distinguished between X from Y
distinction between X with Y
distinction of X to Y
X have a distinction from Y

You might also want to check out this discussion:

distinguish-x-from-y-t6950.html?hilit=distinguish

[askhoman4]

Hi Emily / other Manhattan tutors on duty,

I understand that you guys aren't allowed to discuss GMAC materials in details in this forum. We can keep the discussion in general about this idiom.

I found that in OG12 Q51, the correct answer actually contains a version of the 'DISTINGUISH' idiom that is incorrect according to Manhattan SC Strategy Guide.

It's in the form of 'DISTINGUISH X AND Y'.

The correct answer actually hinges more on another idiom (ABILITY TO vs ABILITY OF), as well as on parallelism.

It seems that parallelism trumps the idiom 'DISTINGUISH BETWEEN X AND Y' in this particular example?

Does it have anything to do with the fact that DISTINGUISH is in Infinitive form in this example?

Please clarify. Thanks in advance.

[tim]

The OG problem you refer to does not violate the rule in our guide. Instead, it is an additional usage "distinguish [things]". This is not a case of distinguishing between X and Y; rather, it is a case of X and Y being a collective group of things that are being distinguished..

If i say i can distinguish Postal Service and Owl City songs, it means that if you play a song from one of those artists i can tell you which song it is, not necessarily that i can tell the two artists apart. This is what is happening in the OG problem you reference..