Unlike diamonds with other colors, it is very difficult to determine

Question

Unlike diamonds with other colors, it is very difficult to determine whether color of green diamonds is natural or treated.

1. Unlike diamonds with other colors, it is very difficult to determine whether color of green diamonds is natural or treated.
2. Unlike colors of other diamonds, color of green diamonds is very difficult to be determined to be natural or treated.
3. Unlike other diamonds, whether color of green diamonds is natural or treated is very difficult to determine.
4. It is very difficult, unlike that of other diamonds, to determine whether the color of Green diamonds is natural or treated.
5. Green diamonds are unlike other diamonds in that it is very difficult to determine whether their color is natural or treated.

SonalSinha803 · Accepted Answer

What is the source of this question ?? Options appear to very absurd....E should have been better framed....."their" refers to what....green diamonds or other diamonds..is not clear at all !!

Sent from my Lenovo K53a48 using  GMAT Club Forum mobile app

AliciaSierra · Answer

prashants412 , Could you advise what is the source of question ?

OA is totally out of league for me.

What does "their" refer in option E. does "their" refer to Green Diamonds or to "other diamonds".

GMATNinja , Could you please explain this SC. E looks awkward to me.

manishchetan · Answer

Proper comparison rules out 1,3,4 , between 2 and 5 , I went for 5 as repeatition of to be seems inappropriate here

Posted from my mobile device

manishchetan · Answer

Their refers to collectively diamonds

Posted from my mobile device

prashants412 · Answer

Requested  GMATNinja  to explain this SC.

I will share my approach to this below, especially why E is the best answer choice.

1. Incorrect comparison and "Unlike diamonds with other colors" incorrectly modifies "it".

2. Awkward passive voice construction.

3. Same as 1.

4. Same as 1.

5. There is a clear comparison between "Green diamonds" and "other diamonds" using "unlike". Both nouns are compared.
"in that" is followed by a more specific information about "Green diamonds".

"Green diamonds" is the subject which is compared with "other diamonds" and "in that" is used to introduce more specific information about the subject.
Thus their refers to the subject of the sentence.

adkikani · Answer

PrayasT   GMAT215

Here are my few cents:
 
Incorrect comparison - After unlike + noun, immediately what should follow coma is a noun.

While using unlike/ like, follow two rules:
1. It can not be used to show examples, it is used to show comparison.
2. It must be followed by noun and not a clause

Here we are comparing X (colors of different diamonds) with Y (colors of green diamonds), which is logical and
grammatically correct.

Incorrect usage of unlike in a clause.
Unlike will usually end with a phrase (only noun), and is not usually a part of independent clause.

See  this  official sentence for details.

Hope this helps.

techiesam · Answer

The only red flag with option E is the pronoun "their".Otherwise E could be the winner.

adkikani · Answer

techiesam

Nope, don't think that's an issue here.

their  is a possessive pronoun which can refer to simple and possessive noun, here it correctly refers to  diamonds

VeritasPrepKarishma   AjiteshArun

AjiteshArun · Answer

I agree that the  their  is quite clear. More generally, keep in mind that pronoun ambiguity is not as important as a lot of test takers seem to think it is. A lot of correct options contain ambiguous pronouns.

However, we should not rush to apply rules that get into which pronouns can refer to possessive nouns either. The GMAT could break those rules in the underlined portion of a future question.

techiesam · Answer

adkikani 
Yes I can see that their is referring to diamond.Which diamond their is referring to? Green diamond or other diamond?

benejo · Answer

1. Unlike diamonds with other colors, it is very difficult to determine whether color of green diamonds is natural or treated. Incorrect comparison: "diamonds with other colors" with "it" 2. Unlike colors of other diamonds, color of green diamonds is very difficult to be determined to be natural or treated . Correct comparison: "colors of other diamonds" with "color of green diamonds" Nothing really wrong here. We don't like the passive voice too much. 3. Unlike other diamonds, whether color of green diamonds is natural or treated is very difficult to determine. Incorrect comparison: "other diamonds" with "whether color of green diamonds" 4. It is very difficult, unlike that of other diamonds , to determine whether the color of Green diamonds is natural or treated. Correct comparison: "that of (=color of) other diamonds" with "the color of Green diamonds" Although: The two compared parts are pretty far apart. The comparison in 2. and 5 is clearer. 5. Green diamonds are unlike other diamonds in that it is very difficult to determine whether their color is natural or treated. Correct comparison: "green diamonds" with "other diamonds" When we have two plural nouns in the sentence ("green diamonds" and "other diamonds"), "their" refers to the subject of the sentence (green diamonds).

Definitely a tough question. We prefer 5. to 2. beacause of the active voice. Hope it helps. There is also a video explanation on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7yfQajRqFc

NiharikaR · Answer

what is wrong with option 2 and 4?

Rollroll · Answer

CORRECT IDIOM IS -  UNLIKE X ,Y  .Therefore A and C are out
 to be determined to be  is wrong .hence B is out
It has no referent therefore D is out.Ans is E

souvik101990 · Answer

Rollroll  is right. With  Unlike  and  Like   you need 100% apples to apples comparisons which neither B or D does.

abhik1502 · Answer

I still do have doubt about Option E. Would someone pls explain this one.
Here, what "in that " refers to. Ideally it should refer to "Green diamond" but looks like it is referring to "Other diamond". In this case it changes the meaning.

If we remove "unlike other diamonds" then rest of sentence would looks pretty awkward, which shouldn't have happened.

Also would someone pls explain whether X or Y idiom also from parallelism prospective. I think it is "their color is natural" being compared with "treated", which looks to be unidiomatic.

Pls suggest !
thanks in advance !

daagh · Answer

There is some semblance of a proper comparison only in choices 4 and 5. However, 4 is wrong because of using the phrase 'that of other diamonds' implying that all the other diamonds have one color. It should have been 'unlike those of'. This is a grave error. 
5 is a lot better. 'The pronoun 'their' logically corresponds only to the green diamonds and not to other diamonds, because, should the pronoun refer to the other diamonds, then the clause should have read--whether their colors are natural or treated ---.

madhukaramar · Answer

Could you please explain - 
There are two types of diamonds here. Which diamond it is referring to.

Sidharth8 · Answer

A – ‘Unlike diamonds with other colors’ modifies ‘it’, this is incorrect.

C and D have the same problem.

B – Awkward and in passive voice

So E is the right option

Maxximus · Answer

Happy to see the healthy discussions here.

Here is the official video explanation-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkeMYWtrOP8

Bunuel  - request you to please mark the source.

Thanks.

Unlike diamonds with other colors, it is very difficult to determine

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Unlike diamonds with other colors, it is very difficult to determine

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards