In his research paper, Dr. Frosh, medical director of the Payne Whitne

Question

In his research paper, Dr. Frosh, medical director of the Payne Whitney Clinic, distinguishes  mood swings, which may be violent without their being grounded in mental disease, from genuine manic-depressive psychosis .

(A) mood swings, which may be violent without their being grounded in mental disease, from genuine manic-depressive psychosis

(B) mood swings , perhaps violent without being grounded in mental disease, and genuine manic-depressive psychosis

(C) between mood swings, which may be violent without being grounded in mental disease, and genuine manic-depressive psychosis

(D) between mood swings, perhaps violent without being grounded in mental disease, from genuine manic-depressive psychosis

(E) genuine manic-depressive psychosis and mood swings, which may be violent without being grounded in mental disease

https://www.nytimes.com/1986/07/20/arts/music-view-pondering-the-link-between-music-and-madness.html

Dr. Frosch draws a distinction  between mood swings, which may be violent without being grounded in mental disease, and genuine manic-depressive psychosis .

GMATNinja · Accepted Answer

You're right that the second option is incorrect. Generally speaking, we don't want to worry too much about idioms - there are almost always more concrete decision points to use, and there are far too many idioms to try to memorize every possibility that could show up on the test. ( About 25,000, give or take .)

Just know that if you were to see a split between "distinguish A from B" and "distinguish  between  A and B," either construction would be fine, and you'd want to look for other differences to base your decision on.

I hope that helps!

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Concepts tested here: Idioms + Awkwardness/Redundancy

• “distinguish A from B” and “distinguish between A and B” are the only two correct usages of “distinguish”.

A:  Trap. This answer choice is needlessly wordy, as "their" can be deleted without a loss of clarity.

B:  This answer choice incorrectly uses the unidiomatic construction “distinguishes A (“mood swings”) and B (“genuine manic-depressive psychosis”)” rather than one of the idiomatic constructions “distinguish between A and B” and “distinguish A from B”; please remember, “distinguish A from B” and “distinguish between A and B” are the only two correct usages of “distinguish”.

C:   Correct.  This answer choice correctly uses the idiomatic construction “distinguishes between A ("mood swings") and B ("genuine manic-depressive psychosis")”. Further, Option C is free of any awkwardness or redundancy.

D:  This answer choice incorrectly uses the unidiomatic construction “distinguishes between A (“mood swings”) from B (“genuine manic-depressive psychosis”)” rather than one of the idiomatic constructions “distinguish between A and B” and “distinguish A from B”; please remember, “distinguish A from B” and “distinguish between A and B” are the only two correct usages of “distinguish”.

E:  This answer choice incorrectly uses the unidiomatic construction “distinguishes A (“genuine manic-depressive psychosis”) and B (“mood swings”)” rather than one of the idiomatic constructions “distinguish between A and B” and “distinguish A from B”; please remember, “distinguish A from B” and “distinguish between A and B” are the only two correct usages of “distinguish”.

Hence, C is the best answer choice.

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vGydsD2k20

All the best!
Experts' Global Team

tennis1ball · Answer

C.

BDE are out due to unidiomatic.

between A and C:
A is wordy because of with clause and 'their'.

I don't regard distinguish between .. and.. and distinguish ... from... as a test point of GMAT. their differences are debatable and too subtle.

baski6 · Answer

BDE are eliminated.

A has their ambiguous ...

C for clear and brevity.

Damager · Answer

In his research paper, Dr. Frosh, medical director of the Payne Whitney Clinic, distinguishes  mood swings, which may be violent without their being grounded in mental disease, from genuine manic-depressive psychosis. 

(A) mood swings, which may be violent without  their  being grounded in mental disease, from genuine manic-depressive psychosis 
(B)mood swings , perhaps violent without being grounded in mental disease, and genuine manic-depressive psychosis
 (C) between mood swings, which may be violent without being grounded in mental disease, and genuine manic-depressive psychosis 
(D)  between  mood swings, perhaps violent without being grounded in mental disease,  from  genuine manic-depressive psychosis
(E) genuine  manic-depressive psychosis  and  mood swings , which may be violent without being grounded in mental disease
 
distinguishes between x and y is correct usage C

bmwhype2 · Answer

Since there is only 2 psychological notions here (mood swings & psychosis) we use the idiom distinguishes from....

distinguish x from y

therefore, only AD are out.  Why are B and E wrong?

TGC · Answer

Can any expert explain the difference between

Distinguish X from Y and
Distinguish between X and Y

Furthermore, if we remove unnecessary-"their" from option (A). will the option be correct?

Plz Advise !

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

We should understand the two potential presentations of the word "distinguishes"

1) ....distinguish between X and Y
2) ....distinguish X from Y

In this prompt, only 2 of the answers fit these patterns: A and C. Eliminate B, D and E

From here, we have a number other rules that we can use (we could also have started with these rules instead of focusing on the word "distinguish"):

1) Unnecessary pronouns: The pronoun "their" in Answer A is unnecessary, since the modifying phrase is clearly discussing "mood swings."

2) 2-part phrases: There are several 2-part phrases that you might see on Test Day. Some are common ("either...or", "neither...nor", "between....and", which others are rarer ("not only...but also", "just as....so." Notice that the usage of the word "between" in some of the answers....this is a clue that we will likely be using the phrase "between...and" in the correct answer.

3) Parallelism: Since the prompt compares two things, we have to present the two "like" things and do so in "parallel format."

All of this points to the correct answer:

Final Answer:  C

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

Malba · Answer

Hi, 
Distinguish X from Y and Is used for 2 pretty similar items
Distinguish between X and Y Is used for 2 very different items

DharLog · Answer

As it was said before the difference between and is too subtle. B, D, E are out because they use neither idiom nor . A - is bad -> out. Leaves us with C. If we remove from A, seems to me, it will be correct option. But if I am not mistaken, has a small priority over . So we will have to choose option C once again. Correct me, please, if I am wrong. 2TGC and 2 Malba:

Leonaann · Answer

What is the difference between -
1. distinguishes A from C
2. distinguishes A and C

I was thinking that option 1 is a correct idiomatic phrase.

Please do help clarify my doubt. Thanks.

LIBERTYRodP · Answer

IDIOMS

To do this right we must know the difference between the following idioms

-   TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN X AND Y

-   TO DISTINGUISH X FROM Y

The first idiom -  TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN X AND Y  - is used to distinguish between two things that have something in common. For example

- The mane helps me  DISTINGUISH BETWEEN  an adult lion  AND  a young one.   ----- In this case, both lions - the adult one and the young one - are similar.

On the other hand, the second idiom -  TO DISTINGUISH X FROM Y  --- is really used to set a contrast between two things that are opposite. For example

- To be pure, you must  DISTINGUISH  good  FROM  evil.   ------- Two opposites.

In this sentence, it is clear that both conditions (mood swings and manic disorder) have similar characteristics, and are not opposite. Therefore, the idiom we need is  TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN X AND Y.

C is the answer.

gambit07 · Answer

What is wrong with option D? Distinguish between X from Y is correct usage IMO.

adstudy · Answer

Hi  gambit07

The correct usages of distinguish are -
1.  Distinguish  X  from  Y
2. Distinguish  between  X  and  Y

Hence the construction  "Distinguish  between  X  from  Y"  is incorrect.

TheUltimateWinner · Answer

GMATNinja 
Sir,
So, the choice A would be correct if the  highlighted part  (their) is removed from the choice, right?
Thanks for your cooperation.

GMATaxe001 · Answer

(A) mood swings, which may be violent without their being grounded in mental disease, from genuine manic-depressive psychosis
 their makes this sentence wrong. idiom X from Y is fine

(B) mood swings , perhaps violent without being grounded in mental disease, and genuine manic-depressive psychosis
•  No between, no from

(C) between mood swings, which may be violent without being grounded in mental disease, and genuine manic-depressive psychosis

(D) between mood swings, perhaps violent without being grounded in mental disease, from genuine manic-depressive psychosis
•  Both between and from make it redundant and unidiomatic

(E) genuine manic-depressive psychosis and mood swings, which may be violent without being grounded in mental disease
•  No between, no from

Lok2209 · Answer

hi,
I see everyone is concerned about the idiom, which i got it correct. But i am more concerned with the sentence structure 
can anyone please explain me the sentence structure especially the subject and verb? The comma after the clinic seems wrong to me.

any help will be greatly appreciated

Thanks

GMATNinja · Answer

Let's take a look at the sentence using the correct answer choice:

Notice that "medical director of the Payne Whitney Clinic" is just a comma-separated modifier that gives us more information about Dr. Frosh. The comma after "clinic" is simply the second of two commas that separate the modifier from the noun it modifies ("Dr. Frosh"). If we remove that modifier, we could also remove the two commas:

"In his research paper, Dr. Frosh distinguishes between mood swings, which may be violent without being grounded in mental disease, and genuine manic-depressive psychosis."

Now it's easier to see that "Dr. Frosh" is the subject and "distinguishes" is the verb.

Notice that "which may be violent without being grounded in mental disease" modifies "mood swings," and the opening modifier ("In his research paper") modifies the entire main clause (telling us  where  Dr. Frosh distinguishes between...). Removing those modifiers leaves us with the following:

"Dr. Frosh distinguishes between mood swings and genuine manic-depressive psychosis."

This is the core of the sentence: "Dr. Frosh distinguishes between   and  ." Everything else is just additional modifying information that, while essential to the  meaning  of the sentence, can be removed without impacting the core  structure  of the sentence.

I hope that helps!

pranavsingh2911 · Answer

GMATNinja   egmat  Why is A wrong, considering it has no idiom issues. Only has one extra word 'their'.

In his research paper, Dr. Frosh, medical director of the Payne Whitne

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In his research paper, Dr. Frosh, medical director of the Payne Whitne

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