The scoring in tennis, [u]unlike many other sports, does not progress

Hi kchen1994,

I guess in the case of option C unlike is modifying scoring in Tennis only,

Right .. it does not ...
I read somewhere that like and unlike is not dependent on touch rule.

Ram played with his children, like his father

Like his father, Ram played with his children.

Both are true and hence I believe both options c and e shall be true

Posted from my mobile device

The scoring in tennis, unlike many other sports, does not progress numerically by integers, but progresses by fifteen points per play until the final two points of the game; a tennis game begins at love and continues to fifteen, thirty, forty, and the winning point.

A) unlike many other sports, does not progress numerically by integers, but progresses by fifteen points per play until the final two points of the game; --> "The scoring in tennis" is wrongly compared w/ "many other sports"

B) unlike the scoring in many other sports, do not progress numerically by integers, but progress by fifteen points per play until the final two points of the game; --> "The scoring in tennis" is singular

C) does not progress numerically by integers, unlike the scoring in many other sports, but progresses by fifteen points per play until the final two points of the game; --> "unlike the scoring in many other sports" should be close to the noun, it compares

D) does not progress numerically by integers, unlike many other sports, but progresses by fifteen points per play until the final two points of the game; --> same as C

E) unlike the scoring in many other sports, does not progress numerically by integers, but progresses by fifteen points per play until the final two points of the game; -->correct

Experts, please explain why E is preferable over C. Please use other (clear) examples to explain the preference.

philipssonicare First, C puts a comma between the subject and the verb. That alone is enough to make the whole thing wrong. We would only want a comma before the verb if the modifier following "scoring" were set aside by a comma ("The scoring, in tennis, does not . . . "). That doesn't happen here and isn't needed. For correct usage of a comma between subject and verb, we'd need something like this problem, in which the subject ("Construction") is followed by a ", + which" modifier. https://gmatclub.com/forum/construction ... ml#p261641

Second, the words "like" and "unlike" are generally used to create noun modifiers, so it's better to have that modifier as close as possible to the noun in question--"scoring." C is comprehensible, and I can't say with confidence that the GMAT would invalidate an answer for this placement (this is far from an official question), but it makes sense to get the modifier next to the noun phrase it's modifying, and that's what E does.