"Choose among" vs. "choose from"

Solution 1:

Both are valid, but they say very slightly different things. Carlo mentioned you can say "I chose from the menu" but note that you cannot say "*I chose among the menu" nor "*I chose from among the menu." I think that gives us the key to the difference.

When you say "chose [from] among" I assume you mean six physical ties. Now that you've taken one, only five are left. But when you say "chose from" I entertain the possibility that you mean six kinds of tie. That is, maybe you were shopping on Amazon, and there are still six ties for the next customer to consider.

This is a rule that runs at large. The difference between two expressions often cannot be seen without some context around them.

Solution 2:

With choose from you can select many items. With choose among you are selecting a single item.

If you're shopping and you choose from the items in a catalog, you can buy 17 items.

If you choose among the items in a catalog, you're selecting one item.

Solution 3:

If I had to choose among 30 different ties to find 3 different ties that matched my suit, why could I not choose among 30 to find 3? Did the 3 not exist among the 30?

The meaning of from according to Miriam Webster: 1 a —used as a function word to indicate a starting point of a physical movement or a starting point in measuring or reckoning or in a statement of limits b —used as a function word to indicate the starting or focal point of an activity 2 —used as a function word to indicate physical separation or an act or condition of removal, abstention, exclusion, release, subtraction, or differentiation 3 —used as a function word to indicate the source, cause, agent, or basis

From only denotes a starting point, a removal/exclusion or source/cause/agent.

"I separated the good from the evil" is a correct usage of 'from' utilizing the second meaning.

The tie came from the closet. The tie that I chose hung among six. I kept the clean ties separate from the dirty ones.

In the statement "The man had to choose from six ties." We are declaring that "six ties" is the point of origin from where the tie was chosen without suggesting a variety to choose among.

In the statement "The man had to choose among six ties." We are declaring that he had six possible tie choices.

In the world that we live in today only a minority would catch that.