damage and ruin

[roseriver1012]

We had no rain for four months, and the harvest was _________.

A. damaged B. ruined

The answer is B. How should I differentiate the two words? damage and ruin?

Thanks for your help!

[probus]

Ruined is by far the stronger of the two terms. If there was still some harvest to be had, you should prefer damaged over ruined. Ruined would be used if the damage was so severe that there would be no harvest, or almost none.

Four months without rain is a severe drought, and in the absence of irrigation it seems likely that the crop would have failed completely, and that's why your teacher gave B as the correct answer.