Final answer:
The kitchen utensil used to drain liquids from cooked pasta and vegetables is known as a colander. It's a bowl-shaped utensil with holes and is different from a strainer, sieve, or ladle which are used for other specific purposes.
Step-by-step explanation:
The correct answer to your question is A) Colander. A colander is a kitchen utensil with holes in it, mainly used to drain liquids from foods like cooked pasta, vegetables, rice, or other similar items.
While the terms strainer and sieve are also used in the kitchen, they can refer to utensils that have similar functions but might be used in different contexts or have finer meshes.
For example, a strainer is often used to remove solid substances from liquids, like seeds from juice, but may not necessarily have handles or be bowl-shaped like a colander.
A sieve usually has a mesh fine enough for sifting dry ingredients such as flour or sugar. Lastly, a ladle is not used for draining but for serving liquids such as soup or stew.