While some may doubt the feasibility of the proposal

@sayantanc2k, can you please explain this one!
policies are being compared to a proposal? can singular items be compared to plural ones and how do we assume they are both synonymous?

Your query 1:
Yes, a singular noun can be compared to a plural noun. Consider the following:
I am not as intelligent as my brothers.

Your query 2:
No assumption is required. The sentence makes it clear that "proposal" is compared with "policies". Nonetheless ideally the modifier "unlike policies..." should touch the noun/pronoun it refers to ("proposal" / "it").

I hate maths, unlike my brother.....not preferred.
Unlike my brother, I hate maths..... correct.

A few thoughts here. First, this is a non-official question, so... well, you've all read my warnings about those dozens of times by now.

Your first thought should always be that "it" refers to the most recent singular noun. And if we interpret it that way, the "it" seems to refer to "proposal" here, and that seems reasonable enough. After all, "feasibility" can't be based on "empirical evidence."

But sure, pronouns often "reach farther back" into the sentence. And in this case, the pronoun could refer back to either of the singular nouns, in theory. But you don't want to be TOO mechanistic if you're worried about pronoun ambiguity. We'll post something new about this at some point in the next few months, but here's a good old thread about why pronoun ambiguity isn't an absolute rule on the GMAT: https://gmatclub.com/forum/pronoun-ambi ... 45387.html. And in this particular question, I don't see any problem with "it" at all.

I hope this helps!

Official Explanation

Answer: B

(A) Since from comes before either, you don’t require as a result of after or.

(B) The correct answer.

(C) By removing it is, the sentence becomes a fragment because there is no main verb in the sentence.

(D) Same as C.

(E) By removing the other policies from the sentence, the comparison gets distorted. Also, to maintain parallelism, you need to repeat on after rather than.

Experts VeritasKarishma Bunuel, I have one query "is unlike in option B used to compare two nouns policies and political whims?"

... the proposal is based on ... unlike policies that result from A or B.

Unlike is comparing "proposal" with "policies".
The sentence is telling us that the proposal is based on empirical evidence. It is not like the policies that result from suppositions or whims (no hard empirical evidence).

Please explain why D is not the right answer. It has "it is" in the answer choice.

Hello Pranjal1,

We hope this finds you well.

Option D is not correct because "While some may doubt the feasibility of the proposal", "because it is based on empirical evidence", and "unlike policies that...political whims" are all dependent clauses; thus, Option D does not form a complete sentence.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

Hello from the GMAT Club VerbalBot!

Thanks to another GMAT Club member, I have just discovered this valuable topic, yet it had no discussion for over a year. I am now bumping it up - doing my job. I think you may find it valuable (esp those replies with Kudos).

Want to see all other topics I dig out? Follow me (click follow button on profile). You will receive a summary of all topics I bump in your profile area as well as via email.