Difference between deserted and abandoned

[Elena Birko]

Synonyms Lesson, Advanced Level

ESL/EFL Test #104 "Synonyms for abandon", question 1

He thought he could make it but after considering the complicated situation, he ......... all hope.

(a) deserted
(b) abandoned
(c) quitted
(d) resigned

Synonyms Lesson, Advanced Level

ESL/EFL Test #104 "Synonyms for abandon", answer 1

He thought he could make it but after considering the complicated situation, he abandoned all hope.

Correct answer: (b) abandoned
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I really don't know defference between deserted and abandoned, I thought thay are synonymous?

thank you
Elena

[Mister Micawber]

They often are, but here we have a highly collocated phrase: to abandon (all) hope. "From Dante's Divine Comedy, the translation into English by H.F.Cary is the origin for this English phrase, although he gave it as the less commonly used 'All hope abandon ye who enter here'."
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Canadian-American native speaker
who teaches English for a living at Mister Micawber's
ESL cafe: Interview with Mister Micawber

[Alan]

Hi Elena,

There is a slight difference in the underlying meaning. Abandon has very much the sense of giving up because there is no future in continuing with a project/idea/object. You therefore have the expression: Abandon ship- in other words leave the ship now because it is going to sink. It's interesting to note that there is also another expression with ships: Rats deserting a sinking ship. Literally this means that the rats run away to save themselves but it has become used as a figurative expression when people leave a business because they feel it is not going to succeed. And that's the underlying idea behind desert because it suggests that you are leaving something and behaving as if you are a traitor because you are not helping those that remain behind. In a military sense a deserter describes a soldier who runs away from the army and doesn't obey orders.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Head expressions for you