Strawberries, unlike picking bananas that are green and can

The key to solving this SC problem is understanding the principles of comparisons in sentences that use 'like' or 'unlike'. The fundamental principle of comparison is that comparisons must be logical. We can only compare items that are logically comparable (remember the old adage about avoiding comparing 'apples and oranges'). In addition to adhering to logic, the comparison must also be grammatically correct: we use 'like' to compare nouns, so we must check that the items compared are nouns or noun replacements.

In answer choices A, B, D and E, the comparison is not logical. These sentences compare a noun 'strawberries' with an action 'picking'. It is not OK to say "Strawberries, unlike picking bananas...etc.'. Nor is it OK to say "Picking strawberries, unlike with green bananas". The use of 'with' damages the comparison. Instead we want to look for a sentence that either compares 'strawberries' with a comparable fruit 'bananas' - or for a sentence that compares "picking" with "picking" or with some other comparable actions. In other words, a correct comparison must be built around a phrase such as 'Strawberries, unlike bananas...', OR "Picking strawberries, unlike picking bananas...". We search for such corrections, even if the word order in the sentence puts these elements at a distance from each other or switches around the order of the comparison. This is the basis for eliminating A, B, D, and E.

Once we understand this principle it is easy to see that the only sentence that creates a logical and grammatical comparison is C - here 'bananas' are compared with 'strawberries'. The other potentially correct way to rewrite this sentence, by comparing 'picking' with 'picking' does not appear in any of the answer choices.