discern them from

USAGE SUMMARY

The phrase "discern them from" is correct and usable in written English.
You can use it when discussing the ability to distinguish or recognize differences between two or more things. Example: "It can be challenging to discern them from similar species without close examination."

✓ Grammatically correct

Science

News & Media

Human-verified examples from authoritative sources

Exact Expressions

3 human-written examples

–They are continually present during social unrest, and one has neither the time nor the opportunity to discern them from the participants.

Forbes

Therefore, if we want to address the effects of residue interaction on the evolutionary rate, and discern them from other structural effects such as solvent exposure, the noncontact set used as reference should be restricted to avoid buried residues.

Genome Biology and Evolution

Notably, besides the above mentioned properties (self-renewal potential and ability of multilineage differentiation), GBM-derived CSCs share a crucial feature with neural stem cells: the expression of distinctive stem/precursor markers that can be helpful to discern them from non-CSC populations within a tumor.

BioMed Research International

Human-verified similar examples from authoritative sources

Similar Expressions

57 human-written examples

In terms of taxonomy, while in line with part of the 16S rRNA gene- and glutamine synthetase I-based clustering, the tools appeared nonetheless more coherent with the actual geographical ranges of origin of rhizobial species, strengthening the European Mediterranean connections and discerning them from the asian and american taxa.

FEMS Microbiology Ecology

"Anyone who wants to know anything about me as an artist — and this is the only thing that matters," Klimt famously told a journalist, "should look attentively at my pictures and try to discern from them who I am and what I want".

The New York Times - Travel

This reliability arises not from the absence of sequencing errors, but from the ability to discern most of them from true substitutions.

Bioinformatics

Equipping these individuals with cognitive abilities will let them discern cooperative from defective actions towards them, and perhaps react differently to those actions.

Plosone

By contrast, if the language use in strategic documents is uncoordinated and no overarching strategy can be discerned from them, this implies a weak internal commitment to formalise a strategic design.

BMC Health Services Research

Refugees hardly dare to appear on the streets of this border town and other communities for fear that the Chinese police, or North Korean security agents working with them, will talk to them, discern where they are from by how they respond and hustle them back to uncertain fates in North Korea.

The New York Times

In some cases, it may be possible to discern unreliable trajectories and exclude them from the analysis by recording information about the confidence of the video processing algorithm and discarding trajectories that do not attain a certain confidence threshold.

EURASIP Journal on Image and Video Processing

Moreover, even those closest and most committed to an individual with radical cognitive impairments may find it hard to discern his interests, and distinguish them from their own "judgment-sensitive" attitudes.

SEP

Expert writing Tips

Best practice

Use "discern them from" when you want to emphasize a careful or insightful distinction, especially when the differences are subtle or require careful observation.

Common error

Avoid using "discern them from" in situations where a simpler verb like "distinguish" or "tell apart" would suffice. The phrase is most effective when highlighting a nuanced or challenging differentiation.

Linguistic Context

The phrase "discern them from" functions as a verb phrase indicating the action of distinguishing or differentiating between multiple entities. As seen in Ludwig, it suggests a careful and insightful differentiation, requiring more than a superficial observation.

Expression frequency: Rare

Frequent in

Science

60%

News & Media

40%

Formal & Business

0%

Less common in

Encyclopedias

0%

Wiki

0%

Reference

0%

Ludwig's WRAP-UP

In summary, the phrase "discern them from" is a grammatically sound and usable expression that signifies the act of carefully distinguishing between multiple entities. As Ludwig AI confirms, its effectiveness lies in contexts demanding subtle or insightful differentiation. While not extremely common, it is more frequently found in scientific and news media sources. When considering alternative phrasing, options such as "distinguish them from" or "differentiate them from" may be suitable depending on the specific nuance you wish to convey.

More alternative expressions

Phrases that express similar concepts, ordered by semantic similarity:

distinguish them from

Focuses on recognizing the differences between items.

differentiate them from

Emphasizes identifying specific qualities that set things apart.

tell them apart from

A more informal way of saying distinguish or differentiate.

separate them from

Highlights the act of physically or conceptually dividing items.

discriminate between them and

Emphasizes a careful and critical judgment between items.

contrast them with

Focuses on highlighting the differences through direct comparison.

identify them apart from

Highlights identifying or recognizing one thing as distinct from others.

know them by difference from

Focuses on identifying something because of its dissimilarities from another thing.

ascertain their difference from

Highlights the process of establishing or confirming the difference between items.

recognize their variance from

Focuses on observing the divergence or disparity between items.

FAQs

What does "discern them from" mean?

The phrase "discern them from" means to perceive, recognize, or distinguish something with careful thought and effort, especially when the differences are not immediately obvious. It implies a deeper level of understanding than simply noticing a difference.

When should I use "discern them from" instead of "distinguish them from"?

While both phrases are similar, "discern them from" suggests a more subtle or difficult differentiation that requires careful observation and insight. "Distinguish them from" is a more general term for recognizing differences.

Is "discern it from" or "discern them from" more common?

"Discern them from" is used when referring to multiple items or entities, while "discern it from" is used for a single item. The choice depends on whether you are distinguishing between one thing and another, or multiple things and others.

What are some alternatives to "discern them from"?

Some alternatives include "differentiate them from", "tell them apart from", "separate them from", or "discriminate between them and", depending on the specific nuance you want to convey.