distinguish from or between... No certain answer!

[woo]

distinguish good paintings from poor ones
distinguish the explosion of a large meteorite from the explosion of a nuclear weapon
distinguish addictive from non-addictive drugs
distinguish between a language and the sub-languages
distinguish between messages triggered by pollen and messages triggered by noxious air
distinguish between safe and unsafe seats
distinguish between mood swings and genuine manic-depressive psychosis


Above sentences are from OG. Looking at them I dont see consistency. I think one cannot be certain that GMAC uses between for different things and from for similiar things though I can sense that between is preferred over from.

Any thoughts?

[tom4lax]

Looks pretty definitive to me, no?

We see two forms:

1)Distinguish X from Y
2)Distinguish between X and Y

[woo]

What I meant is that according to spidey's note GMAT uses 'distinguish between X and Y' form for x and y that are completely different things and 'distinguish x from y' form for x and y that are very similar like genuine painting and fake one but, looking at sentences in the original post GMAT is not consistent.