Unlike the United States, where farmers can usually depend on rain or

We covered this one in a recent YouTube webinar on comparisons, so if you prefer your explanations in video form, head on over here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dsa-RaX765o


The word “unlike” should always jump off the page at us, because it’s arguably the most straightforward type of comparison you’ll ever see on the GMAT. “Unlike the United States…” needs to be followed by something that can logically be compared with “the United States.”

In this particular sentence, there’s a modifier in the way (beginning with “where farmers can usually depend…”), but once we get past that, we have a mess: “Unlike the United States,… the rains in most parts of Sri Lanka…” You could logically compare the United States to many things (insert bad geopolitical joke here), but “the rains” are not among them.

So (A) is out.


(B) changes a couple of small things, but it has the same fundamental problem as (A): “Unlike the United States farmers,… the rains in most parts of Sri Lanka…” OK, so now we’re comparing “farmers” to “the rains”, and that makes no sense, either. So (B) is gone.


OK, now we’re getting into some fun stuff. The phrase “those of” (or “that of”) should always jump off the page at us too: “those” and “that” are both pronouns, and often give us some nice, easy eliminations – and both seem to show up quite a bit in comparison questions. (More on “that” and its use as a pronoun in this article.) Basically, you’ll always want to identify the antecedent for “those” or “that”, and then insert it back into the sentence to see if it makes sense.

So in (C), “those” seems to refer to “parts”, and we end up with absolute nonsense: “Unlike parts of the United States…, most parts of Sri Lanka's rains…” Huh? It doesn't make any sense to compare “parts of the United States” with “parts of Sri Lanka’s rains.” We're comparing regions of the United States to the rains in parts of Sri Lanka.

If you wanted to argue that "those" refers to "farmers"... well, I think that's weird, since "farmers" is part of the modifying phrase. But let's roll with it. We'd have: "Unlike farmers of the United States..., most parts of Sri Lanka's rains…” Huh? It doesn't make any sense to compare “farmers of the United States” with “parts of Sri Lanka’s rains.” So no matter how you slice it, the comparison is nonsense.

That was fun. (C) is out.


The hits keep coming: “In comparison with the United States…, the rains in most parts of Sri Lanka…” That’s also wrong, because it’s literally comparing the United States itself to the rains in Sri Lanka. So (D) can be eliminated.


Well, we’ve already eliminated all of the other answer choices, so I hope we like (E), or else we’ll be starting over, and that’s about as much fun as licking frozen doorknobs.

Fortunately, the comparison looks pretty good here: “In the United States, farmers can usually depend on rain or snow all year long, but in most parts of Sri Lanka the rains…” Hey, that’s not bad. Basically, the sentence is telling us what happens “in the United States”, and then it tells us that “in most parts of Sri Lanka”, something else happens. That’s perfect.

So (E) is our answer.
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Unlike the United States, where farmers can usually depend on rain or snow all year long the rains in most parts of Sri Lanka are concentrated in the monsoon months, June to September, and the skies are generally clear for the rest of the year.


(A) Unlike the United States, where farmers can usually depend on rain or snow all year long, the rains in most parts of Sri Lanka
This sentence compares the U.S with the rains. Illogical

(B) Unlike the United States farmers who can usually depend on rain or snow all year long, the rains in most parts of Sri Lanka
Same here. Moreover "who" is un-necessary we already have a noun "farmers" we should be expecting a verb delineating an action, we don't need a pronoun.

(C) Unlike those of the United States, where farmers can usually depend on rain or snow all year long, most parts of Sri Lanka's rains
Compares "those of the US" supposedly rains with most parts of Sri Lanka. That's wrong.

(D) In comparison with the United States, whose farmers can usually depend on rain or snow all year long, the rains in most parts of Sri Lanka
Same as A

(E) In the United States, farmers can usually depend on rain or snow all year long, but in most parts of Sri Lanka the rains
Looking good. Conveys the correct meaning.
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Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Concepts tested here: Comparison + Pronouns

• A comparison must be made between similar elements.

A: This answer choice incorrectly compares "the United States" with "the rains"; please remember, a comparison must always be made between similar elements.

B: This answer choice incorrectly compares "the United States farmers" with "the rains"; please remember, a comparison must always be made between similar elements.

C: This answer choice suffers from pronoun ambiguity, as it is unclear whether "those" refers to "parts" or "rains".

D: This answer choice incorrectly compares "the United States" with "the rains"; please remember, a comparison must always be made between similar elements.

E: Correct. This answer choice correctly compares "In the United States" with "in most parts of Sri Lanka". Further, Option E avoids the pronoun error seen in Option C, as it uses no pronouns.

Hence, E is the best answer choice.

Additional Note: Please note that Option E does not make a direct comparison, rather, it uses the conjunction "but" to draw a contrast between the conditions "In the United States" and "in most parts of Sri Lanka".

All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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The knowledge of "Punctuation" is typically not tested in GMAT Sc. So, do not worry about the usage of comma after United states.

This question typically tests the knowledge of Like /Unlike rule (Commonly tested rule in GMAT).

Typically the structure of like/unlike is - Like/Unlike X,Y - A test taker needs to identify the objects (X & Y) geeting compared.In addition, X& Y needs to be parallel.

In this question, all the four options (A to D) are not parallel. E - uses the parallel marker "BUT" and the contrasting elements are parallel
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Hi Expert,

Why is choice C incorrect? As correct comparison is done between rains of two countries, I found this choice correct.

Thank you, AR15J, great catch! I just verified that choice C in the original post contained a typo... it should be:

(C) Unlike those of the United States, where farmers can usually depend on rain or snow all year long, most parts of Sri Lanka's rains

NOT (as originally posted):

(C) Unlike those of the United States, where farmers can usually depend on rain or snow all year long, the rains in most parts of Sri Lanka

I think the original poster accidentally put the last part of choice B at the end of choice C. Also, the correct answer choice (E) was missing a comma.
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Thanks a lot GMATNinjaTwo.

Sorry to modify the original choice, but I did so to clear my doubt. If choice C is as below, would it be correct?

Unlike those of the United States, where farmers can usually depend on rain or snow all year long, Sri Lanka's rains

AR15J, yes, that would be okay because it compares Sri Lanka's rains to those of the United States. Thanks for catching the mistake with the original post!
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When one knows that something is a comparison question with the spotting of the comparison marker word, the reflex action should be to verify whether the word that lies next to the comparator is both logically and structurally parallel to the compared thing in the other arm. By this single test, one may dislodge choice A through D in this topic. Although this question per se looks somewhat tricky, one can now make bold to mark the remaining choice as correct, provided of course he or she has acquired a good level of confidence about comparisons through deep practice.
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Awaiting OA

Unlike the United States, where farmers can usually depend on rain or snow all year long , the rains in most parts of Sri Lanka are concentrated in the monsoon months, June to September, and the skies are generally clear for the rest of the year.

(A) Unlike the United States, where farmers can usually depend on rain or snow all year long, the rains in most parts of Sri Lanka -Incorrect comparison between US and rain

(B) Unlike the United States farmers who can usually depend on rain or snow all year long, the rains in most parts of Sri Lanka -Incorrect comparison between farmers and rain

(C) Unlike those of the United States, where farmers can usually depend on rain or snow all year long, most parts of Sri Lanka's rains -Those in the opening comparison is not a good way to write. Neverthless, those must refer back to the first noun that appears in the main clause, which in our case is "most parts of rain". This is completely nonsensical

(D) In comparison with the United States, whose farmers can usually depend on rain or snow all year long, the rains in most parts of Sri Lanka -Incorrect comparison between rain and US

(E) In the United States, farmers can usually depend on rain or snow all year long, but in most parts of Sri Lanka the rains -Correct

(A) Unlike the United States, where farmers can usually depend on rain or snow all year long, the rains in most parts of Sri Lanka

(B) Unlike the United States farmers who can usually depend on rain or snow all year long, the rains in most parts of Sri Lanka

(C) Unlike those of the United States, where farmers can usually depend on rain or snow all year long, most parts of Sri Lanka's rains -- Illogical comparison.

(D) In comparison with the United States, whose farmers can usually depend on rain or snow all year long, the rains in most parts of Sri Lanka

(E) In the United States, farmers can usually depend on rain or snow all year long, but in most parts of Sri Lanka the rains

GMATNinja Thank you for your great explanations. In option C, can we construe that "those" refers to rains? rains is noun and might be a logical reference for "those".

[quote="qhoc0010"]Unlike the United States, where farmers can usually depend on rain or snow all year long , the rains in most parts of Sri Lanka are concentrated in the monsoon months, June to September, and the skies are generally clear for the rest of the year.


(A) Unlike the United States, where farmers can usually depend on rain or snow all year long, the rains in most parts of Sri Lanka

(B) Unlike the United States farmers who can usually depend on rain or snow all year long, the rains in most parts of Sri Lanka

(C) Unlike those of the United States, where farmers can usually depend on rain or snow all year long, most parts of Sri Lanka's rains

(D) In comparison with the United States, whose farmers can usually depend on rain or snow all year long, the rains in most parts of Sri Lanka

(E) In the United States, farmers can usually depend on rain or snow all year long, but in most parts of Sri Lanka the rains


look at choice C
"those" can refer to "parts" in this case, comparison is not logic. "those" can refer to "most part of rains". in this case, comparison is good. but because we can understand "those " in 2 ways, choice C is ambiguous and, so, is wrong.

Take another look at (C): "Unlike those of the United States, where farmers can usually depend on rain or snow all year long, most parts of Sri Lanka's rains..."

Part of the problem here is that it's not entirely clear what "those" refers to. If you reread the sentence a few times, maybe you could convince yourself that "those" refers to "most parts," and we're comparing parts of the United States to parts of Sri Lanka.

But even if you accept that shaky usage of "those," there's a more severe problem in red. "Most parts of Sri Lanka's rains" makes it sound as though we're differentiating between some "parts" of Sri Lanka's rains and other parts of these rains. This makes no sense. We're not talking about parts of the rain, but rather about parts of Sri Lanka.

I hope that helps!
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I have a hard time figuring out the subject and verb in option (E). How is the part after 'but', an independent clause ?

The actual question in OG 17 has an extra comma i.e "... ,but in most parts of Sri Lanka, the rains are concentrated in the monsoon months, June to September, and the skies are generally clear for the rest of the year."

Subject : the rains ?
Verbs : are concentrated ?

If yes, can subject-verb pair in an independent clause be contained by a comma pair after comma + fanboys phrase like ",but in most parts of srilanka"

@generis@GMATNinja@AryamaDuttaSaikia@EducationAisle

Unlike the United States, where farmers can usually depend on rain or snow all year long, the rains in most parts of Sri Lanka.....

In the above sentence, i am concerned regarding the usage of the commas.

where farmers can usually depend on rain or snow all year long.....is a non essential modifier which is placed in between commas and if we remove the non essential modifier then the sentence becomes

Unlike the United States the rains in most parts of Sri Lanka.....(which is not a correct as a comma is required after unlike)

i am not sure whether my thinking regarding the non essential modifiers is in correct way or not. Can someone please explain the ask

Hi mahi816,

The answer, if I have understood your question correctly, is that we cannot use two commas together (so we make do with one). Otherwise, we'd end up with something like this:

Unlike the United States, where farmers can usually depend on rain or snow all year long,, the rains in most parts of Sri Lanka.....
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I think AjiteshArun answered your question, but one last thought: the GMAT doesn't really test comma usage that deeply, so I wouldn't get hung up on things like essential vs. non-essential modifiers. Comma usage is rarely a deciding factor, so look for other decisions points when making your eliminations.
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hi experts,GMATNinja, MikeScarn, GMATNinja, GMATNinjaTwo, generis, hazelnut

I suddenly confused, why those cannot just refer to rain, I wonder whether" those" refers to noun without modifier?
then the choice C becomes
"Unlike RAINS of the United States, where farmers can usually depend on rain or snow all year long, most parts of Sri Lanka's rains..."

I read the thread, most talk about those = most parts of ..., most parts of Sri Lanka's rain,
but why not those =rains. why those refers to noun with it's modifier, but cannot refer to noun without modifier?

moreover, I think it is logical meaning if those refers to "rain"

please help.