To differ and to distinguish

[Terminator]

Hi All! When Must I use to differ? When must I use To distinguish!
Many thaks

Terminator

[Torsten]

Hi Terminator,

Two or more things can differ from each other. That means, they are different.
You can distinguish between two or more things. That means, you recognize them as different.
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Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Terminator]

[Chocolatee]

Hi! I think what you are trying to say is, "I can't differentiate this book from one another." However, I'm not quite sure what you are trying to say. I think there is always a way to differentiate one book from the other. Well, let's wait what the teachers have to say on this.

[Alan]

Hi chocolatee,

There are two verbs: differ and differentiate.

Differ is an intransitive verb (has no object) and means be different from and differentiate is a transitive verb (takes an object) (and also intransitive ) and means make a difference between. Look at these sentences:

Both these bottles look the same but one differs from the other because one has a red label and the other a green label. In that way you can differentiate one from the other

Alan
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English as a Second Language
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[Chocolatee]

Oh, okay. Your explanation makes a lot of sense. Thank you for giving us this great explanation and these good examples.