Give an example of characteristics being used to determine how close two species are in evolutionary terms.

If similar characteristics are shown in different organisms, then these are considered to be inherited from the common ancestry. It also shows the closeness of the species.For example, humans and apes have some similarity in their body designs, so they are closely related in evolutionary terms.Now take humans and fishes which have vertebral columns,brain box etc as common but look completely different from each other. Hence they are not closely related rather they are like distant relatives.