Partitions are weather, not a choice: when it rains, pick consistency or availability.

In a distributed system messages can be lost or delayed, so you cannot promise the network will never split. That makes partition tolerance a given rather than an option. The real decision is what to do while a split lasts: refuse to answer so nothing wrong is said, or answer from what you have and risk being stale. While the network is healthy you do not have to give up either one.

Read it once, then a question tests whether the trick stuck.