Unlike mainstream American businesses, more than half of which fail, the failure rate for
businesses in the Amish community hovers around 5 percent.
A. Unlike mainstream American businesses, more than half of which fail
B. Unlike mainstream American businesses, in which the failure rate is more than
half
C. Unlike mainstream American businesses, where more than half of them fail
D. While the rate of mainstream American businesses failing is more than half
E. While more than half of mainstream American businesses fail

A. Unlike mainstream American businesses, more than half of which fail - American businesses compared with the failure rate
B. Unlike mainstream American businesses, in which the failure rate is more than
half - American businesses compared with the failure rate
C. Unlike mainstream American businesses, where more than half of them fail - American businesses compared with the failure rate, and where is used for places
D. While the rate of mainstream American businesses failing is more than half - awkward construction
E. While more than half of mainstream American businesses fail -Correct

The problem in E is that you are comparing American business with the failure rate for
businesses in the Amish community!!

OA is E, by the way.
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Whats wrong with D?
I dont see the correct comparision in E.
please clarify.
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Hi Sridhar Noburu...
The problem in D.. read the following line ..
While the rate of mainstream American businesses failing is more than half - ....

rate of business failing is > .5%.. ( not sure on this though )....
Also , the two parts are not parallel....

the first part is passive construciton and the second part is in active voice ....
is my explantion correct or ( I am unnecessarily trying to justify E)

D looks correct but it has 2 major problems:

(1) incorrect construction "of + NOUN + ing form of verb".
(2)it's unidiomatic to say that a RATE is "half" (or "more/less than half"). you could say that a rate is 50%, but not "half".

IMO 'E'
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E should be correct answer choice. correct comparison.

Experts kindly pour in and explain why the answer is (E).


Plz Advice !
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E is correct.

For this question, we have to use COMPARISON and MEANING to pick the correct answer.

Unlike mainstream American businesses, more than half of which fail, the failure rate for businesses in the Amish community hovers around 5 percent.

A. Unlike mainstream American businesses, more than half of which fail
Wrong. incorrect comparison (mainstream American business vs the rate)

B. Unlike mainstream American businesses, in which the failure rate is more than half
Wrong. incorrect comparison (mainstream American business vs the rate)

C. Unlike mainstream American businesses, where more than half of them fail
Wrong. incorrect comparison (mainstream American business vs the rate). Also "where" is wrong.

D. While the rate of mainstream American businesses failing is more than half
Wrong. correct comparison, but WRONG MEANING. "The rate is more than half" does not make sense. Half of what? half of 1% (0.5%); or half of 100% (50%). We never say "the rate is half". It's wrong.

E. While more than half of mainstream American businesses fail
Correct. "more than half of X fail" = the rate is more than 50%. MEANING is the first priority in this question.

Hope it helps.
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Hi sdas,
This is in response to your PM.

Unlike mainstream American businesses, more than half of which fail, the failure rate for businesses in the Amish community hovers around 5 percent.

Meaning Analysis:

Half of mainstream American businesses fail. But this is not the case with Amish community businesses. Their failure rate is just around 5 percent.

Error Analysis:

One thing we need to heed here is that when we use the word “Unlike/like” for comparison, we must make sure that the entity compared should be grammatically and logically parallel.
So, per this rule, the original sentence is incorrect because in presence of “Unlike”, “mainstream American businesses” cannot be logically compared to “the failure rate”.

PoE:

A. Unlike mainstream American businesses, more than half of which fail: Incorrect for the reason stated above.

B. Unlike mainstream American businesses, in which the failure rate is more than half: Incorrect.
i. This choice repeats the error of choice A.
ii. The phrase “rate is more than half” is not idiomatic. The correct expression is “rate is less than 50%”.

C. Unlike mainstream American businesses, where more than half of them fail: Incorrect.
i. This choice repeats the error of choice A.
ii. Use of “where more than…” is not correct.

D. While the rate of mainstream American businesses failing is more than half: Incorrect.
i. The expression “businesses failing” the way it appears in this choice is not idiomatic.
ii. The phrase “rate is more than half” is not idiomatic. The correct expression is “rate is less than 50%”.

E. While more than half of mainstream American businesses fail: Correct. The first thing to note here is that we are not bound by the limitations of “Unlike” in this choice. Here “more than half” denotes the rate of the mainstream American businesses that fail. So the comparison is logical. And construction is also parallel because we have clauses on both sides of comma for comparison. This structure is more relaxed than that with “unlike”

Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha
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