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Unlike most warbler species, the male and female blue-winged wa 24 Jun 2021, 07:20
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Some comments say that "unlike in" is unidiomatic. But according to Merriam-Webster, this is not the case.

"The conjunctive unlike almost always introduces a prepositional phrase.  'unlike in other areas, the judiciary cannot justify its attempt … as a necessary evil'"

I chose D only because of this preposition, which I thought was missing in A. I missed though that the comparison was not correct.

Would D have been correct if it read something like:

"Unlike in most warbler species, in the Blue-Winged warbler it is hard to tell the sexes apart."

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Unlike most warbler species, the male and female blue-winged wa 24 Jun 2021, 19:44
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Some comments say that "unlike in" is unidiomatic. But according to Merriam-Webster, this is not the case.

"The conjunctive unlike almost always introduces a prepositional phrase.  'unlike in other areas, the judiciary cannot justify its attempt … as a necessary evil'"

I chose D only because of this preposition, which I thought was missing in A. I missed though that the comparison was not correct.

Would D have been correct if it read something like:

"Unlike in most warbler species, in the Blue-Winged warbler it is hard to tell the sexes apart."

Posted from my mobile device
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The phrase "unlike in other areas" works because "areas" are places -- and things/people can be IN places. For example, "In Manhattan, unlike in San Francisco, the streets are relatively flat." This works because we are talking about streets IN Manhattan and streets IN San Francisco.

But what does it mean to say, "IN a warbler species"?? It doesn't actually make any sense because we aren't talking about something that is IN a warbler species -- we aren't telling the male and female blue-winged warbler apart IN a warbler species.

Also, notice how "in Manhattan" is compared to "in San Francisco" in the street example. In (D), on the other hand, we don't have two comparable things. (So, yes, your change would make (D) a bit better... but still not great.)

Thankfully, this is a very old retired question, so I wouldn't worry too much about this one.

I hope that helps a bit!
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Unlike most warbler species, the male and female blue-winged wa 25 Jun 2021, 14:44
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GMATNinja

Thanks for elaborating. Helps a lot!
I tried to find a similar example in swedish, and we could use the equivalent of "unlike" both with or without a preposition, just like in english. With "species", we would use a preposition most equivalent to "at". Which, if any, preposition would you put between "unlike" and "species"?

"Unlike in most warbler species" (wrong)
"Unlike with most warbler species"
"Unlike for most warbler species"

It depends, of course, on the meaning that follows, but in this exact example?

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Unlike most warbler species, the male and female blue-winged wa 25 Jun 2021, 16:51
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Unlike most warbler species, the male and female blue-winged warbler are very difficult to tell apart.

(A) Unlike most warbler species, the male and female blue-winged warbler are very difficult to tell apart.

(B) Unlike most warbler species, the gender of the blue-winged warbler is very difficult to distinguish.

(C) Unlike those in most warbler species, the male and female blue-winged warblers are very difficult to distinguish.

(D) It is very difficult, unlike in most warbler species, to tell the male and female blue-winged warbler apart.

(E) Blue-winged warblers are unlike most species of warbler in that it is very difficult to tell the male and female apart.

Source : GMAT Paper Test Test Code 52 Q22

i chose C. My approach was

Unlike "Male and female" in most warbler species, the male and female blue-winged are very difficult to distinguish....I thought "THOSE" in C refers to "MALE AND FEMALE Warblers"

Can anyone please explain why C is wrong. I went thru thread but i couldn't get much help.

I rejected E because of "IN THAT" word. I found E awkward. I know awkward is not any approach but still i couldn't understand/feel that E is right.
Excellent question! You're right that because the subject of the first clause, "those," is plural, it should logically refer to the plural subject of the subsequent clause, "the male and female blue-winged warblers." But if we substitute the referent in place of "those," we get, "Unlike the male and female blue-winged warblers in most warbler species, the male and female blue-winged warblers are very difficult to distinguish.

How can male and female blue-winged warblers be unlike themselves??? That's just nutty. So (C) is out.

Here's (E) again:

  • Blue-winged warblers are unlike most species of warbler in that it is very difficult to tell the male and female apart.

While "in that" sounds a little goofy to my ear, we never want to eliminate answer choices simply because they sound a little off. Otherwise the question writer can seduce us into selecting the wrong answer every single time by having the OA sound a funny.

In this case, "in that" is used to introduce a supporting example. How are blue-winged warblers unlike most species of warbler? In that it's difficult to tell the sexes apart. Makes sense to me.

Most importantly, don't waste brain space obsessing over esoteric constructions, such as "in that." Instead, just know that on difficult SC questions, the correct answer will sometimes sound a little strange to your ear, and this is intentional. It's why we want to use logic, meaning, and grammar to eliminate incorrect options, rather than relying on our ear.

I hope that helps!
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Dear GMATNinja

Going by the same logic, in the question - Thai village crafts, like those of other cultures, have developed through the principle that form follows function and incorporate readily available materials fashioned using traditional skills,

those should refer to Thai village crafts right? But according to GMAT the above sentence is correct.

Can you please help me understand why in the above sentence we take only village crafts? and when it comes to this particular question why can't we take male and female warblers alone to refer to those, in option C?

Thank you!
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Unlike most warbler species, the male and female blue-winged wa 25 Jun 2021, 23:09
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Dear GMATNinja

Going by the same logic, in the question - Thai village crafts, like those of other cultures, have developed through the principle that form follows function and incorporate readily available materials fashioned using traditional skills,

those should refer to Thai village crafts right? But according to GMAT the above sentence is correct.

Can you please help me understand why in the above sentence we take only village crafts? and when it comes to this particular question why can't we take male and female warblers alone to refer to those, in option C?

Thank you!
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Hi Bhu750,

Although it may under some circumstances be used to refer to an entire noun phrase, those is a great way to refer to part of a noun phrase.
1. Unlike those in Delhi, the taxis in Mumbai... ← Here those has a noun that it can refer to (taxis).

Now let's look at the Thai village crafts question:
2. Thai village crafts, like those of other cultures... ← Here we're using those to substitute for "village crafts" or just "crafts". The phrase "of other cultures" on the right helps us understand that we don't want to include the word "Thai".
3. Thai village crafts, like the village crafts of other cultures... or Thai village crafts, like the crafts of other cultures... ← The the gets added automatically if it is needed.

The problem with doing that in option C is that we can't drop the middle element. To understand this, take a look at (4):
4. Old yellow taxis in Delhi, like those in Mumbai...

How should we interpret this?
5. Old yellow taxis in Delhi, like old yellow taxis in Mumbai...
6. Old yellow taxis in Delhi, like yellow taxis in Mumbai...
7. Old yellow taxis in Delhi, like taxis in Mumbai...

I'd go for (5), but my point is that we can't interpret "old yellow taxis in Delhi, like those in Mumbai..." as
8. Old yellow taxis in Delhi, like old taxis in Mumbai...

Similarly, we can't drop the element in the middle (blue-winged) from the noun phrase that the those is being used as a substitute for in option C. So I'd say that option C ("Unlike those in most warbler species, the male and female blue-winged warblers...") can be interpreted in multiple ways:
C1. Unlike the warblers in most warbler species, the male and female blue-winged warblers...
C2. Unlike the blue-winged warblers in most warbler species, the male and female blue-winged warblers...
and maybe
C3. Unlike the male and female blue-winged warblers in most warbler species, the male and female blue-winged warblers...

but not
C4. Unlike the male and female warblers in most warbler species, the male and female blue-winged warblers...
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Unlike most warbler species, the male and female blue-winged wa 05 Jul 2021, 15:07
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Bambi2021
GMATNinja

Thanks for elaborating. Helps a lot!
I tried to find a similar example in swedish, and we could use the equivalent of "unlike" both with or without a preposition, just like in english. With "species", we would use a preposition most equivalent to "at". Which, if any, preposition would you put between "unlike" and "species"?

"Unlike in most warbler species" (wrong)
"Unlike with most warbler species"
"Unlike for most warbler species"

It depends, of course, on the meaning that follows, but in this exact example?

Posted from my mobile device
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Thank you for the kind words!

Here's the litmus test I'd use. Is there a way to understand the construction so that I'm directly comparing two noun-like entities?

When I see "unlike with most warbler species," it's not clear to me which nouns we're comparing. If I wanted to compare the species directly, I'd just write, "Unlike species X... species Y."

"With a species" isn't an entity. It seems more likely that I'm about to be told information about what two different species do, in which case, "like" would be inappropriate.

The same logic would apply to the phrase "unlike for most warbler species." "For most species" isn't a noun-like entity I can compare with another noun, so I'd say this is problematic too.

The takeaway: ask yourself if you can boil the "like" construction down to the comparison of two noun-like entities. If you can't, it's reasonable to treat that option as incorrect.

I hope that helps!
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Is option A wrong because of SV AGREEMENT error ''warbler are''? I don't think comparison is faulty here for the ''male and female'' is simply an adjective for the blue hinged warbler. Does GMAT doesn't allow NOUN to be compared with ADJECTIVE+NOUN?

Can someone please shed on light on this?

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Unlike most warbler species, the male and female blue-winged wa 09 Mar 2022, 09:48
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VIGHNESHKAMATH
Is option A wrong because of SV AGREEMENT error ''warbler are''? I don't think comparison is faulty here for the ''male and female'' is simply an adjective for the blue hinged warbler.
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Well, "male blue-winged warbler" and "female blue-winged warbler" obviously cannot be species, since species cannot be male and/or female.

So, the male and female blue-winged warbler basically refers to the "males" and "females" of the blue-winged warbler. Hence, A is an illogical comparison.

For example, "male lion" refers to a "male" (who belongs to the animal class of "lion").
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Unlike most warbler species, the male and female blue-winged wa 10 Mar 2022, 06:33
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VIGHNESHKAMATH
Is option A wrong because of SV AGREEMENT error ''warbler are''? I don't think comparison is faulty here for the ''male and female'' is simply an adjective for the blue hinged warbler. Does GMAT doesn't allow NOUN to be compared with ADJECTIVE+NOUN?

Can someone please shed on light on this?

Regards
Vighnesh
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Hello VIGHNESHKAMATH,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, there is no SV disagreement in Option A; the phrase "the male and female blue-winged warbler" refers to "the male (blue-winged warbler) and female blue-winged warbler", so the use of "and" makes it a plural noun phrase.

The error in Option A is that it incorrectly compares two dissimilar things; it compares "most warbler species" to "the male (blue-winged warbler)" and "the female blue-winged warbler".

The correct answer choice, Option E, correctly compares "Blue-winged warblers" - referring to the entire species - with "most species of warbler".

We hope this helps.
All the best!
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Unlike most warbler species, the male and female blue-winged wa 11 Jan 2023, 00:16
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Did not get why a is wrong.

a. Unlike most warbler species, the male and female blue-winged warbler are very difficult to tell apart.

"the male and female blue-winged warbler" isn't this plural?
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Unlike most warbler species, the male and female blue-winged wa 12 Jan 2023, 05:55
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Did not get why a is wrong.

a. Unlike most warbler species, the male and female blue-winged warbler are very difficult to tell apart.

"the male and female blue-winged warbler" isn't this plural?
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Hello TBT,

We hope this finds you well.

As mentioned above, the error in Option A is not subject-verb disagreement, rather it is that Option A is that it incorrectly compares two dissimilar things - "most warbler species" and "the male (blue-winged warbler)" and "the female blue-winged warbler".

Option E correctly compares "Blue-winged warblers" - referring to the entire species - with "most species of warbler".

We hope this helps.
All the best!
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Unlike most warbler species, the male and female blue-winged wa 13 Jan 2023, 08:28
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Did not get why a is wrong.

a. Unlike most warbler species, the male and female blue-winged warbler are very difficult to tell apart.

"the male and female blue-winged warbler" isn't this plural?
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In choice (A), "warbler" is preceded by "male and female". Does that imply that ALL of the warblers are somehow both male and female? In other words, does "male and female" modify the single collective group (the warbler)?

The parallel structure in (A) makes the meaning confusing. Why not just write "male and females warblers are..." instead of "the male and female warbler are..."? The wording in (E) is much clearer.

Even if we ignore that point of confusion (by assuming that the intended subject is "the male blue-winged warbler and the female blue-winged warbler" without wondering why there's no "s" at the end of "warbler"), (A) would still have a faulty comparison between most warbler species and members of a particular species. The comparison makes more sense in (E), where one particular species is compared to most species.

I hope that helps!
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Unlike most warbler species, the male and female blue-winged wa 05 Feb 2023, 10:22
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tough problem! would B be a stronger contender if it were to be rephrased as:

"Unlike that of most warbler species, the gender of the blue-winged warbler is very difficult to distinguish." ?
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E. Blue-winged warblers are unlike most species of warbler in that it is very difficult to tell the male and female apart.

In this sentence what does it refer to?

Should it be "they" referring to "Blue-winged warblers" are very difficult to tell the male and female apart.
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Unlike most warbler species, the male and female blue-winged wa 26 Feb 2023, 22:25
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E. Blue-winged warblers are unlike most species of warbler in that it is very difficult to tell the male and female apart.

In this sentence what does it refer to?

Should it be "they" referring to "Blue-winged warblers" are very difficult to tell the male and female apart.
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That would not make sense, since the sentence would then read:

Blue-winged warblers are very difficult to tell the male and female apart.

it is referring to the phrase "to tell the male and female apart".

So, basically the sentence is conveying:

<to tell the male and female apart> is very difficult.

This is a typical case when the pronoun (it) is used before the antecedent (to tell the male and female apart). This is acceptable on GMAT and is extensively used.

Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses such case of pronouns, their application and examples in significant detail. If you or someone is interested, PM me your email-id; I can mail the corresponding section.
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Unlike most warbler species, the male and female blue-winged wa 27 Mar 2023, 13:45
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Blue-winged warblers are unlike most species of warbler in that it is very difficult to tell the male and female apart. What does it refer to?
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Unlike most warbler species, the male and female blue-winged wa 27 Mar 2023, 23:46
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Blue-winged warblers are unlike most species of warbler in that it is very difficult to tell the male and female apart. What does it refer to?
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Hi mcepeci,

You can think of that it as referring to nothing, or to to tell the male and female apart.
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In the choice E, what's the reference of it？
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Unlike most warbler species, the male and female blue-winged wa 30 Mar 2023, 22:55
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A few people are asking about the use of "it" in E. This is a very common usage, in which "it" is used as a placeholder for a concept that is about to be introduced:

"It is difficult to get into Stanford."
"I used a ladder, since it would otherwise have been impossible to reach the window."

In these cases, "it" not really replacing a noun in the sentence. It's simply serving as part of a construction that introduces a concept. What is difficult? Getting into Stanford. What would have been impossible? Reaching the window. As AjiteshArun has stated, we can think of "it" as referring to those phrases ("to get in," "to reach the window"), but it might be easier to think of it as having no antecedent at all. We're just forming an expression, as in "It is raining." No one asks "What is raining?"
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Unlike most warbler species, the male and female blue-winged wa 08 Apr 2023, 11:36
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@e-gmat GMATNinja AjiteshArun

Can you please explain what is the correct usage of "in that" ? In the below OG question, the usage of "in that" is wrong.

https://gmatclub.com/forum/the-olympic-games-helped-to-keep-peace-among-the-pugnacious-states-of-85874.html.

Regards,
Ratan.
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