Sentence Correction

Unlike the African elephant, whose trunk contains two fingers used to grasp and eat roots, grasses, fruit, and bark, the Asian elephant's trunk has only one finger, so it cannot grab food as precisely as its African counterpart.

A) Unlike the African elephant, whose trunk contains two fingers used to grasp and eat roots, grasses, fruit, and bark, the Asian elephant's trunk has only one finger, so it

B)Unlike the African elephant's trunk, which contains two fingers used to grasp and eat roots, grasses, fruit, and bark, the Asian elephant's trunk has only one finger, thus the Asian elephant

C)Compared to that of the African elephant, which has two fingers used by them to grasp and eat roots, grasses, fruit, and bark, the trunk of the Asian elephant has only one finger, and

D)Dissimilar to the African elephant, which has a trunk with two fingers that are used to grasp and eat roots, grasses, fruit, and bark, the Asian elephant has a one-fingered trunk,

E)The African elephant, which has a trunk with two fingers used to grasp and eat roots, grasses, fruit, and bark, is unlike the Asian elephant, which has a trunk with only one finger and hence

my doubt: i came across this question and the PROCLAIMED answer is E; however i have TWO issues with E

issue 1: "unlike" CANNOT be ADVERBIAL as is done in option E . so the basic structure in E "The african elephant is UNLIKE the asian elephant" SEEMS WRONG.

issue 2: my second concern is regarding the parallelism of option E .the defaulted parallelism in E can lead to following parallelism in bold:

The African elephant, which has a trunk with two fingers used to grasp and eat roots, grasses, fruit, and bark, is unlike the Asian elephant, which has a trunk with only one finger AND hence (the african elephant) cannot grab food as precisely as its African counterpart.

ALTHOUGH option E intends to make the following things in parallel: ....Asian elephant, which has a trunk with only one finger and hence cannot grab food as precisely as its African counterpart.

Guru kindly tell me how to resolve these issues
thanks and best regards

aditya8062 wrote:issue 1: "unlike" CANNOT be ADVERBIAL as is done in option E . so the basic structure in E "The african elephant is UNLIKE the asian elephant" SEEMS WRONG.

SC100 in the OG12:
The stars are in motion.
Here, in motion is an ADJECTIVE describing the stars.
What KIND of stars?
Stars IN MOTION.

The African elephant is unlike the Asian elephant.
Here, unlike the Asian elephant correctly serves as an ADJECTIVE describing the African elephant.
What KIND of African elephant?
An African elephant UNLIKE THE ASIAN ELEPHANT.

issue 2: my second concern is regarding the parallelism of option E .the defaulted parallelism in E can lead to following parallelism in bold:

The African elephant, which has a trunk with two fingers used to grasp and eat roots, grasses, fruit, and bark, is unlike the Asian elephant, which has a trunk with only one finger AND hence (the african elephant) cannot grab food as precisely as its African counterpart.


ALTHOUGH option E intends to make the following things in parallel: ....Asian elephant, which has a trunk with only one finger and hence cannot grab food as precisely as its African counterpart.

Guru kindly tell me how to resolve these issues
thanks and best regards

Generally, the default interpretation is that and serves to connect one form to the NEAREST preceding parallel form.

The African elephant, which has a trunk with two fingers used to grasp and eat roots, grasses, fruit, and bark, is unlike the Asian elephant, which has a trunk with only one finger and hence cannot grab food as precisely as its African counterpart.

Here, the default interpretation is that the and in red serves to connect cannot grab to has (the nearest preceding parallel form).
The subject for both verbs is which, which serves to refer to the Asian elephant.
Conveyed meaning:
The Asian elephant HAS a trunk with only one finger and hence CANNOT GRAB food.

Thanks Guru for your elaborate reply
but please tell me if the following is correct :

The African elephant is unlike the Asian elephant.
Here, unlike the Asian elephant correctly serves as an ADJECTIVE describing the African elephant.
What KIND of African elephant?
An African elephant UNLIKE THE ASIAN ELEPHANT.

then why option E in following gmac prep question is wrong ?

Originally published in 1950, Some Tame Gazelle was Barbara Pym's first novel, but it does not read like an apprentice work.
(A) does not read like an apprentice work
(B) seems not to read as an apprentice work
(C) does not seem to read as an apprentice work would
(D) does not read like an apprentice work does
(E) reads unlike an apprentice work

Guru i was going through some post of manhattan and this difference of "LIKE/ UNLIKE"(that is "LIKE" can function as BOTH ADVERBIAL AND ADJECTIVAL where as "UNLIKE" can only function as ADJECTIVAL) was used to rule out option E

thanks and best regards

LINKING VERBS are forms of to be:
is, are, was, were, etc.
Both like and unlike may follow a linking verb.

The African elephant is like the Asian elephant.
Conveyed meaning:
The African elephant is SIMILAR TO the Asian elephant.

The African elephant is unlike the Asian elephant.
Conveyed meaning:
The African elephant is DIFFERENT FROM the Asian elephant.

like may also follow a NON-LINKING VERB.
In this case, like means IN THE MANNER OF.
John thinks like a computer.
Conveyed meaning:
John thinks IN THE MANNER OF a computer.

unlike may NOT follow a non-linking verb.

then why option E in following gmac prep question is wrong ?

E: it reads unlike an apprentice work
Since unlike may not follow a non-linking verb such as reads, it reads unlike is incorrect.
Eliminate E.