Last visit was: 15 Jul 2025, 16:35 It is currently 15 Jul 2025, 16:35
Close
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.

Customized
for You

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Track
Your Progress

every week, we’ll send you an estimated GMAT score based on your performance

Practice
Pays

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Close
Request Expert Reply
Confirm Cancel
User avatar
TeHCM
Joined: 06 Jun 2004
Last visit: 30 Sep 2013
Posts: 490
Own Kudos:
1,172
 [63]
Location: CA
Posts: 490
Kudos: 1,172
 [63]
3
Kudos
Add Kudos
60
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Most Helpful Reply
User avatar
daagh
User avatar
Major Poster
Joined: 19 Feb 2007
Last visit: 16 Oct 2020
Posts: 5,264
Own Kudos:
42,348
 [13]
Given Kudos: 422
Status: enjoying
Location: India
WE:Education (Education)
Expert
Expert reply
Posts: 5,264
Kudos: 42,348
 [13]
9
Kudos
Add Kudos
4
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
User avatar
DmitryFarber
User avatar
Manhattan Prep Instructor
Joined: 22 Mar 2011
Last visit: 14 Jul 2025
Posts: 2,950
Own Kudos:
8,399
 [9]
Given Kudos: 57
GMAT 2: 780  Q50  V50
Expert
Expert reply
GMAT Focus 1: 745 Q86 V90 DI85
Posts: 2,950
Kudos: 8,399
 [9]
6
Kudos
Add Kudos
3
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
General Discussion
User avatar
sahilvijay
Joined: 29 Jun 2017
Last visit: 16 Apr 2021
Posts: 299
Own Kudos:
873
 [1]
Given Kudos: 76
GPA: 4
WE:Engineering (Transportation)
Products:
Posts: 299
Kudos: 873
 [1]
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
OG 2011- Ques 107
Distinguish x from y is not correct => its unidomatic..
so why here option B is correct?
User avatar
gmatt1476
Joined: 04 Sep 2017
Last visit: 27 Mar 2025
Posts: 334
Own Kudos:
24,286
 [1]
Given Kudos: 62
Posts: 334
Kudos: 24,286
 [1]
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
TeHCM
Although many art patrons can readily differentiate a good debenture from an undesirable one, they are much less expert in distinguishing good paintings and poor ones, authentic art and fakes.


(A) much less expert in distinguishing good paintings and poor ones, authentic art and

(B) far less expert in distinguishing good paintings from poor ones, authentic art from

(C) much less expert when it comes to distinguishing good paintings and poor ones, authentic art from

(D) far less expert in distinguishing good paintings and poor ones, authentic art and

(E) far less the expert when it comes to distinguishing between good painting, poor ones, authentic art, and

SC53561.01

Official Explanation

Idiom; Parallelism

The preferred idiomatic form is distinguishing X from Y, rather than distinguishing X and Y.

A. This version uses the incorrect idiomatic form distinguishing X and Y.

B. Correct. This version uses the preferred idiomatic form distinguishing X from Y.

C. This version uses the incorrect idiomatic form distinguishing X and Y. Furthermore, expert when it comes to is excessively wordy in comparison to expert in as seen in choices A, B, and D.

D. This version uses the incorrect idiomatic form distinguishing X and Y.

E. Although the form distinguishing between X and Y is an acceptable alternative to distinguishing X from Y, this version fails to capture that what art patrons have difficulty distinguishing between are good paintings and poor ones on the one hand, and authentic art and fakes on the other.

The correct answer is B.
User avatar
EMPOWERgmatVerbal
User avatar
EMPOWERgmat Instructor
Joined: 23 Feb 2015
Last visit: 17 Feb 2025
Posts: 1,694
Own Kudos:
15,053
 [3]
Given Kudos: 766
Expert
Expert reply
Posts: 1,694
Kudos: 15,053
 [3]
3
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Hello Everyone!

Let's tackle this question, one thing at a time, and narrow down our options quickly so we know how to answer questions like this when they pop up on the GMAT! To begin, let's take a quick look at the question and highlight any major differences between the options in orange:

Although many art patrons can readily differentiate a good debenture from an undesirable one, they are much less expert in distinguishing good paintings and poor ones, authentic art and fakes.

(A) much less expert in distinguishing good paintings and poor ones, authentic art and
(B) far less expert in distinguishing good paintings from poor ones, authentic art from
(C) much less expert when it comes to distinguishing good paintings and poor ones, authentic art from
(D) far less expert in distinguishing good paintings and poor ones, authentic art and
(E) far less the expert when it comes to distinguishing between good painting, poor ones, authentic art, and

After a quick glance over our options, a couple things jump out that we can focus on:

1. much less vs. far less
2. good painting and/from poor ones; authentic art and/from fakes


While it may be tempting to tackle #1 on our list first, you should skip it. Why? Because there really isn't a difference between using "much less" and "far less" in this case. This split is meant to distract you from the real problem: IDIOMS! The idiom we're dealing with today is this:

distinguishing X from Y

We need to make sure that each sentence does this correctly every time it occurs in the sentence. To make problems easier to spot, let's add the last word "fakes" back in:

(A) much less expert in distinguishing good paintings and poor ones, authentic art and fakes = WRONG
(B) far less expert in distinguishing good paintings from poor ones, authentic art from fakes = OKAY
(C) much less expert when it comes to distinguishing good paintings and poor ones, authentic art from fakes = WRONG
(D) far less expert in distinguishing good paintings and poor ones, authentic art and fakes = WRONG
(E) far less the expert when it comes to distinguishing between good painting, poor ones, authentic art, and fakes = WRONG
(The problem with option E is the word "between." It is idiomatically correct to say "distinguish between X and Y." However, by listing all 4 items together as one list, it changes the overall meaning to be "distinguishing between A and B and C and D," rather than pairing up good/poor and authentic/fakes. You're not comparing each of the 4 items to all 3 of the other items, so this is wrong.)


There you have it - option B is our answer! By focusing in on the idiom "distinguishing X from Y," we were able to eliminate the wrong options quickly!


Don't study for the GMAT. Train for it.
User avatar
LIBERTYRodP
Joined: 30 Jan 2019
Last visit: 01 Apr 2024
Posts: 127
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 14
Expert
Expert reply
Posts: 127
Kudos: 74
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
IDIOMS:

To distinguish X from Y --- Used to distinguish among things that are opposites.
vs
To distinguish between X and Y ---- Used to distinguish among elements with things in common.



Therefore, in this sentence, it is important to use the idiom TO DISTINGUISH X FROM Y.


iN SUMMARY


(A) much less expert in distinguishing good paintings and poor ones, authentic art and ---- WRONG IDIOM

(B) far less expert in distinguishing good paintings from poor ones, authentic art from ---- CORRECT. One of the uses of a comma is to give two similar adjectives or elements in a row without the conjunction "and" in the middle. Ex: She is a nice, studious woman.

(C) much less expert when it comes to distinguishing good paintings and poor ones, authentic art from ----- WRONG IDIOM

(D) far less expert in distinguishing good paintings and poor ones, authentic art and ----- WRONG IDIOM

(E) far less the expert when it comes to distinguishing between good painting, poor ones, authentic art, and ----- WRONG IDIOM
User avatar
ExpertsGlobal5
User avatar
Experts' Global Representative
Joined: 10 Jul 2017
Last visit: 15 Jul 2025
Posts: 5,143
Own Kudos:
4,729
 [1]
Given Kudos: 38
Location: India
GMAT Date: 11-01-2019
Expert
Expert reply
Posts: 5,143
Kudos: 4,729
 [1]
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

TeHCM
Although many art patrons can readily differentiate a good debenture from an undesirable one, they are much less expert in distinguishing good paintings and poor ones, authentic art and fakes.

(A) much less expert in distinguishing good paintings and poor ones, authentic art and

(B) far less expert in distinguishing good paintings from poor ones, authentic art from

(C) much less expert when it comes to distinguishing good paintings and poor ones, authentic art from

(D) far less expert in distinguishing good paintings and poor ones, authentic art and

(E) far less the expert when it comes to distinguishing between good painting, poor ones, authentic art, and


Choice A: In Option A, we see the use of the incorrect idiomatic form "distinguishing X and Y" in the phrase "distinguishing good paintings and poor ones, authentic art and fakes". Thus, Option A is incorrect.

Choice B: Option B preserves the intended meaning of the sentence and utilizes the correct idiomatic form. Thus, Option B is correct.

Choice C: Option C commits the same error found in Option A. Moreover, the phrase "expert when it comes to" is needlessly wordy. Thus, Option C is incorrect.

Choice D: Option D also repeats the error found in Option A. Thus, Option D is incorrect.

Choice E: In Option E, we see a distortion of meaning arising from the use of the phrase "distinguishing between"; the intended meaning of the sentence is that while many art patrons can distinguish between a good debenture and an undesirable one, they are less capable of distinguishing between good paintings and poor paintings and between authentic art and fakes. However, if Option E is utilized, the resultant sentence lists all four elements in one list; this change alters the sentence to mean that the patrons are not as capable of distinguishing between all four elements taken together, as they are capable of differentiating between a good debenture and an undesirable one. Thus, Option E is incorrect.

Hence, B is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of “Use of Distinguish on the GMAT”, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team
User avatar
CrackverbalGMAT
User avatar
Major Poster
Joined: 03 Oct 2013
Last visit: 15 Jul 2025
Posts: 4,847
Own Kudos:
8,641
 [1]
Given Kudos: 225
Affiliations: CrackVerbal
Location: India
Expert
Expert reply
Posts: 4,847
Kudos: 8,641
 [1]
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
The correct idiom that we are looking for here is ‘distinguish X from Y

The trick here is to notice a second pair of contrast that is made at the end of the sentence between ‘authentic art and fake art’.

Let’s scan the options:

(A) much less expert in distinguishing good paintings and poor ones, authentic art and

(B) far less expert in distinguishing good paintings from poor ones, authentic art from

(C) much less expert when it comes to distinguishing good paintings and poor ones, authentic art from

(D) far less expert in distinguishing good paintings and poor ones, authentic art and

(E) far less the expert when it comes to distinguishing between good painting, poor ones, authentic art, and

Eliminate Options A, C and D for the wrong idiom.

Eliminate Option E for altering the intended meaning; plus ‘between’ is incorrect for more than two items.

Option B is the best choice.

Hope this helps!
User avatar
amoljain
Joined: 18 Nov 2017
Last visit: 16 Nov 2021
Posts: 24
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 20
Posts: 24
Kudos: 2
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
TeHCM
Although many art patrons can readily differentiate a good debenture from an undesirable one, they are much less expert in distinguishing good paintings and poor ones, authentic art and fakes.


(A) much less expert in distinguishing good paintings and poor ones, authentic art and

(B) far less expert in distinguishing good paintings from poor ones, authentic art from

(C) much less expert when it comes to distinguishing good paintings and poor ones, authentic art from

(D) far less expert in distinguishing good paintings and poor ones, authentic art and

(E) far less the expert when it comes to distinguishing between good painting, poor ones, authentic art, and

SC53561.01

Although got to the correct answer using POE, I have a doubt in the OA. Can someone please explain the role of comma in Option B?

If we want to say that, we are 'distinguishing good paintings from poor ones', and distinguishing 'authentic art from fakes', don't we need conjunction in order to establish parallelism?
Thanks for your help.
User avatar
DmitryFarber
User avatar
Manhattan Prep Instructor
Joined: 22 Mar 2011
Last visit: 14 Jul 2025
Posts: 2,950
Own Kudos:
8,399
 [2]
Given Kudos: 57
GMAT 2: 780  Q50  V50
Expert
Expert reply
GMAT Focus 1: 745 Q86 V90 DI85
Posts: 2,950
Kudos: 8,399
 [2]
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
1
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
amoljain

You'd think so, wouldn't you? One of the major themes in the hardest SC questions, especially those in the Advanced OG, seems to be "Sometimes a correct sentence can get away with breaking what you thought was a rule." This can be very frustrating when we're trying to learn the rules, but I think that the GMAT is testing two related ideas. One, a very well-read person may recognize certain rarer constructions from their wide reading, and therefore may know that a form such as this is okay. Two, someone with a strong mastery of the rules may recognize a certain hierarchy of issues, so that a less problematic answer will be the last one to get crossed out. Unfortunately, there's no easy fix for this, and for that reason it's best to avoid these Advanced OG questions unless the rest of SC is going extremely well.

Having said that, one way to tell that this usage is okay is that we are given no viable option that fixes the issue. This is actually a fairly common occurrence in SC. We'll see something we don't like, and either it appears in all 5 choices, or the choices in which it doesn't appear are severely flawed. In that case, we have to accept that the usage must be okay in the GMAT's eyes.

amoljain
If we want to say that, we are 'distinguishing good paintings from poor ones', and distinguishing 'authentic art from fakes', don't we need conjunction in order to establish parallelism?
User avatar
GMATNinja
User avatar
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
Joined: 13 Aug 2009
Last visit: 15 July 2025
Posts: 7,356
Own Kudos:
68,557
 [2]
Given Kudos: 1,968
Status: GMAT/GRE/LSAT tutors
Location: United States (CO)
GMAT 1: 780 Q51 V46
GMAT 2: 800 Q51 V51
GRE 1: Q170 V170
GRE 2: Q170 V170
Products:
Expert
Expert reply
GMAT 2: 800 Q51 V51
GRE 1: Q170 V170
GRE 2: Q170 V170
Posts: 7,356
Kudos: 68,557
 [2]
2
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
This popped up on our Ask Me Anything About SC thread. Reposting our answer here, just in case anybody finds it helpful.

Mizar18
GMATNinja GMATNinjaTwo

Another one! :D

Regarding this question:

Although many art patrons can readily differentiate a good debenture from an undesirable one, they are much less expert in distinguishing good paintings and poor ones, authentic art and fakes.

(A) much less expert in distinguishing good paintings and poor ones, authentic art and (INCORRECT)

(B) far less expert in distinguishing good paintings from poor ones, authentic art from (CORRECT)

What is this part "authentic art fromfakes" doing in the sentence? Is it an appositive? I thought there was a missing "and", so the right sentence would be something like this one:

....distinguishing good paintings from poor ones, and authentic art from fakes

Please let me know your comments.

Best
The short answer is that the GMAT is fairly lenient when it comes to comma usage, so you always want to look for other decision points. In this case, we are trying to cite two distinct things that art patrons are far less expert in:

    1) distinguishing good paintings from poor ones
    2) distinguishing authentic art from fakes

If we put an "and" before "authentic art" instead of the comma, we get,

    "... distinguishing good paintings from poor ones and authentic art..."

At first glance, it seems like "authentic art" is being grouped with "poor ones" in a parallel list (distinguishing (1) good paintings from (2) poor [paintings] and authentic art). Once we keep reading we can figure out the intended meaning, but an "and" actually makes things more confusing. The comma usage, though nonstandard, makes the intended meaning more clear.

I hope that helps!
User avatar
VerbalBot
User avatar
Non-Human User
Joined: 01 Oct 2013
Last visit: 04 Jan 2021
Posts: 18,450
Own Kudos:
Posts: 18,450
Kudos: 953
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Hello from the GMAT Club VerbalBot!

Thanks to another GMAT Club member, I have just discovered this valuable topic, yet it had no discussion for over a year. I am now bumping it up - doing my job. I think you may find it valuable (esp those replies with Kudos).

Want to see all other topics I dig out? Follow me (click follow button on profile). You will receive a summary of all topics I bump in your profile area as well as via email.
Moderators:
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
7356 posts
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
235 posts