difference idiom

aragonn ,generis

Could you please provide your suggestion?

Regards,
Arup

This is also correct, but w/o 2nd what, the sentence is more concise. Also, this one doesn’t have such idioms as “between ... and ...” to require the 2nd what for parallelism. Also “Difference in what” common for both in 1st sentence, so doesn’t require the 2nd what.

really thanks for the explanation ...although i was searching online
I got a real good explanation for why parallelism is required in "difference between" and why not required in "difference in"

source is /english.stackexchange.com

"Difference in" is usually used to refer to a change in one thing, instead of noting the dissimilarity between two things.
"I noticed a difference in the way you play piano now. It's so much softer than it used to be."
"There's a difference in my attitude. I am happy at last."

"In" is also used when you are referring to the difference between two things by pointing out the difference itself (i.e. the ONE thing that's different).
Consider these two ways of saying the same thing: "There's a difference in the way you use 'cold' and 'frigid'," versus "There's a difference between 'cold' and 'frigid'."

So use "in" with a single object, and "between" with a pair of objects.

arup , thanks for tagging. Tagging is the best way to get a question answered,
although sometimes we are very busy and it takes us a little while.

aashishlandmark , because you quote from the Manhattan SC book, some of what I write here will be familiar.

First, there is an idiom that just has to be memorized: Between X and Y

That construction is called a "closed parallelism marker."
In that closed marker, X and Y must be parallel—perfectly parallel.
Check for parallelism.

WRONG: There are DIFFERENCES BETWEEN what you and I can do
X = what you
Y = I can do
X and Y are not parallel.

Correct because X and Y are parallel: There are differences between what you can do and what I can do.
X = what you can do
Y = what I can do

• DIFFERENCE BETWEEN?

Often but not always, we use a difference between X and Y to talk about
dissimilarity (or dissimilarities) between two things or people.

(We can also use DIFFERENCE(S) IN to talk about differences between people or things.)

In a closed construction, X and Y must match,
and whatever comes right after X does not carry over to Y.

That is, in the difference between X and Y, I cannot write:
Wrong:There is a difference between the color of an orange and a grapefruit.
Correct: There is a difference between the color of an orange and the color of a grapefruit.
Correct: There is a difference between the color of an orange and that of a grapefruit.
(the pronoun THAT makes an alternative or extra "copy" of "color," so X and Y both include "color")

We can use DIFFERENCE BETWEEN to talk about a change in ONE thing as long as we stay parallel.

Correct: The difference between his voice as a child and his voice as an adult is not as stark as I would have expected.

• DIFFERENCE IN?

To talk about the manner or way in which TWO things or people are different, we CAN use
a difference in something about P and Q
differences in P and Q

Difference in is not a closed construction, so we can relax a little about repetition needed to maintain parallelism.
No.

Correct: There are differences in what you and I can do.
-- The subject is differences.
-- The preposition is IN
-- the object is WHAT
-- the clause that correctly follows the WHAT is you and I can do

Sometimes we use difference in to talk about change in one thing.

I keep hoping to see a difference in the tone of his Tweets, but I should stop hoping.
If wishes were horses then beggars would ride.

• Focus mostly on the idiom difference between X and Y and the way in which X and Y must be parallel.
See my post below about how many times I have seen this idiom tested.

I hope that analysis helps.

The full source is: https://english.stackexchange.com/quest ... ce-between
aashishlandmark Careful. I saw that discussion. (I'm a member.)

The answer is accurate. The man who wrote the answer is very talented.

But that answer does not actually answer your question.
The guideline is spot-on in general, but in specific cases the guideline will not help.

You quoted: So use "[difference] in" with a single object, and "[difference] between" with a pair of objects.
With that guideline, how do you account for this correct sentence from Manhattan SC?
-- There is a DIFFERENCE IN ability BETWEEN us.

And see my post above. We can use DIFFERENCE IN for a dissimilarity or some dissimilarities between two people.
The focus is not that DIFFERENCE BETWEEN always goes with two somethings.
The focus is knowing that Between X and Y is a closed and strict parallelism structure.

Just please take five minutes to learn how to assess the parallelism in the closed marker construction . . .
There are many parallelism markers that are closed. Learning parallelism from this example will be time well-spent.

In order to keep this comment general, I am not quoting anyone. Sentence Correction on the GMAT can be really intimidating.

I do not believe that the right strategy consists in focusing on tiny details — until the whole forest has been examined.

If aspirants are working at this level of detail, I hope that
• they have been through at least 100 OG Sentence Correction questions

• they are scoring well on the 600-700 level (well = 90% correct and within time constraints.

• they have mastered the most commonly tested idioms.
Guess how I found the most commonly tested idioms?

GMAT Club has an unbelievably good collection of thousands of official questions.

The Master Directory is HERE.
Every Official Guide since 2000 is there.
Every Official Guide Quantitative Review is there.
Every Official Guide Verbal Review is there.

Every single question from every book is there. There are 21 books.

For SC questions prior to OG 2000, you can see my and my team's SC Butler,
which contains almost all of pre-2000 OG questions.
You can find SC Butler on this page, here,
as well as a post I wrote just below the list of 288 questions.

For four months, every day, we posted two questions, moderated the questions, and posted official explanations.

If SC Butler does not contain a pre-2000 question, then that question is already somewhere on the forum.
Because we do not post duplicate questions on GMAT Club, my team and I could not post it in our fun marathon.
(That is the last time in this lifetime that I will write "fun" and "marathon" next to each other. Butler is fun. Running 26 miles? Not so much.)

So. I was almost certain that GMAC had not tested difference IN and difference BETWEEN in the same question.
I checked every question in OG 13th edition (2015 was the same);
and every new question in OG 2016; OG 2017; OG 2018; and 0G 2019, respectively.

I checked every question in the Official Guide Verbal Review 2nd edition (2015 was the same);
and every new question in OG VR 2016; OG VR 2018; and OG 2019, respectively.

For almost a decade, in 10 books, and in a pool of about 350 questions
how many questions tested difference IN vs. difference BETWEEN?

ZERO.

I found one GMAT Prep question from 2005 or 2006, HERE—and each incorrect option contained one or two other errors.

Why, you wonder, would I do such data mining?
I could not recall having seen a single question in the OGs or the OG VRs
that tested the issue.

It never hurts to review correct official answers. Ears burning?
My point is that unless aspirants have thoroughly studied official examples,
this level of detail might not be such a good idea.

Reading correct examples is the single best way I know to absorb
good instincts and a real understanding of the patterns on the GMAT.

I applaud the curiosity. I do.
I read 350+ questions in large part because I wanted to know
GMAT's pattern of testing idioms that include the word difference.

Answer: GMAC doesn't test "difference" very often. It tests "different" even less frequently.

Distinction and distinguish are tested 3-4 times.

Between X and Y is tested a few times. No more than 5 times.
See, e.g., OG 13 SC # 44 (rivalry between . . .)
and OG 13 SC # 95 (distinction between . . .)

Cheers!

P.S. Once you get to the master directory site to which I linked above, click on one book at a time.
Keep following links. You will find each question listed and broken out by section (PS, DS, SC, etc.)

wow...I am so full of joy , gratitude and thankfulness right now.
Cant thank you enough for all the help above.
really greatful

aashishlandmark , you are very welcome. Glad I could help.