Select the word you consider most appropriate for the blank space and indicate…
2021
Select the word you consider most appropriate for the blank space and indicate your response on the Answer Sheet accordingly:
Many people today have fallen into utter confusion of values with the result that they cannot ______ the good from the bad.
- A.
divide
- B.
differentiate
- C.
see
- D.
alter
Attempted by 5 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B
Concept
A fill-in-the-blank of this type is solved by collocation and meaning, not by a single word's dictionary gloss. Test two things: (1) which verb forms an idiomatic pattern with the preposition that follows the blank, and (2) which verb's meaning fits the idea the sentence is building. Here the blank is followed by "the good FROM the bad", and the surrounding idea is "confusion of values" — an inability to tell right from wrong.
Application
The frame is "cannot ______ the good FROM the bad". The verb must legally take the pattern "___ X from Y" and mean to perceive a difference between X and Y.
"differentiate" fits both tests: "differentiate X from Y" is a standard collocation meaning to recognise or show the difference between them — exactly the discernment the "confusion of values" calls for.
So the sentence reads: "...they cannot differentiate the good from the bad" — they can no longer tell right values from wrong ones.
Contrast
"divide" — to split into parts; works for physical separation, not for telling categories apart in the mind.
"see" — does not take "see X from Y" in a distinguishing sense; not idiomatic here.
"alter" — to change/modify; about altering something, not about discerning right from wrong.