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Read these lines: "You see, but you do not observe. The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen the steps which lead up from the hall to this room. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, because I have both seen and observed." According to the quoted lines, what separates observing from seeing?
AObserving needs much better eyesight than seeing
BObserving keeps a note of detail that seeing misses
CObserving happens only when a mystery is at hand
DObserving takes far longer to carry out than seeing
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: B. Observing keeps a note of detail that seeing misses
1. The speaker says his listener has seen the stairs hundreds of times without knowing how many there are.
2. He then says he himself knows there are seventeen because he has both seen and observed them.
3. So observing is seeing with the detail actually taken in and kept, option B.
4. Nothing in the quoted lines suggests either man has weaker eyes than the other.
_Source: Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892), A Scandal in Bohemia_
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