Unlike using spices for cooking, in medicinal usage

[RonPurewal]

Also, when we see "Unlike X, Y", X and Y need to be logically and structurally parallel. Does "whereas" work in the same way as "unlike"?

No. "Whereas" connects entire complete sentences, so there's no issue of parallelism. As long as the two sentences have a relationship that makes sense with the word "whereas", you're fine.

Did I highlight the comparison correctly? Thank you.

Yes.

[benjamindian]

Not quite. The comparison is cooking vs. taking: cooking spices vs. taking spices (for medicinal use). That's okay. The issue is that we can't say "taking spices is done in large quantities..."

Does that mean we can say "like/unlike Ving, Ving is..."? e.g. Like reading novels in Central Park, riding a bike in Central Park is Jane's favorite activity. I know "like/unlike" is used to compare nouns but I'm not sure whether "like/unlike" can be used to compare Ving-form nouns. Thanks.

[RonPurewal]

Those nouns are ok, too.

Note, though, that you can't write "Like to ____, to ____ is ...""”even though "to ____" often functions as a noun in other circumstances.

[benjamindian]

Those nouns are ok, too.

Note, though, that you can't write "Like to ____, to ____ is ...""”even though "to ____" often functions as a noun in other circumstances.

Thanks, Ron.

[RonPurewal]

You're welcome.

[imperial.franco]

Hello there, I am a little bit confused by Choice B, which seems correct to me.
Choice B: Unlike spices( that are used in cooking), (in using spices for medicine), (they) are taken

so there are actually 4 issues here.

1/
the comparison doesn't work.
the left-hand part of the comparison is "spices that are used in cooking"; the right-hand part is "they" = "spices" in general.
for this comparison to work, you'd have to have "spices that are used in medicine" in there somewhere. you don't.

2/
in GMAC's correct sentences of the form Unlike xxxx ...., yyyyy..., the "yyyy" comes DIRECTLY after the "Unlike xxxxx" part.
check out the boldface part above -- this doesn't happen. instead, the modifier "in using spices ..." is interposed between those two parts.
bad.

3/
"in using spices..." would have to be followed by a noun representing the person (or pharmaceutical company, or whatever) who uses the spices.
that doesn't happen here.

4/
"using spices for medicine" isn't a logical wording; it wrongly suggests that the spices are used in the manufacture of pharmaceuticals.

Ron,

Would it be correct to reason that B is also wrong on the grounds that, "they" refers to the entire noun phrase "spices that are used in cooking?" Thus, it would be illogical to say, "Unlike spices that are used in cooking, in using spices for medicine, the spices that are used in cooking are taken..."

I recall one of your posts in which you mentioned that whenever we have comparisons and we use pronouns other than demonstrative pronouns, these pronouns would refer exactly to the noun-antecedent present in the sentence.

Example: "Last year's attendance was ten thousand greater than it was this year." (wrong as "it "illogically refers to last year's attendance)

[RonPurewal]

Your reasoning is solid——but you're neglecting the other appearance of "spices". That one doesn't have any modifiers attached to it.

If the only appearance of "spices" were the first one, then one could also eliminate the choice on the grounds you've described here.

[imperial.franco]

Your reasoning is solid——but you're neglecting the other appearance of "spices". That one doesn't have any modifiers attached to it.

If the only appearance of "spices" were the first one, then one could also eliminate the choice on the grounds you've described here.

Oh right. I overlooked the other mention of "spices." Thanks Ron!

[RonPurewal]

sure.

[MingruiX60]

Hi Ron, if D is the right answer, then "whereas" can connect two sentences, right? I remember that, only "For/but/and/yet/nor/so" can connect two independent sentences. In terms of choice D, I think the COMMA should be a Semicolon.

[RonPurewal]

I remember that, only "For/but/and/yet/nor/so" can connect two independent sentences.

no, this is very wrong. there are LOTS of connecting words that can connect 2 complete sentences.
Whereas [complete sentence], [complete sentence]
[Complete sentence], whereas [complete sentence]
Because [complete sentence], [complete sentence]
[Complete sentence], because [complete sentence]
Even though [complete sentence], [complete sentence]
[Complete sentence], even though [complete sentence]
Although [complete sentence], [complete sentence]
[Complete sentence], although [complete sentence]

etc.

in fact, this is the ONLY thing "whereas" can do.
there is literally nothing else that "whereas" can do, other than connect 2 complete sentences.

...so, i'm not sure where you got this "rule" from, but you can easily disprove it just by looking at basic examples of sentences using whereas, although, etc.

[RonPurewal]

In terms of choice D, I think the COMMA should be a Semicolon.

DO NOT question the correct answers!

here's a handy FAQ:

Q: Is the correct answer correct?
A: Yes.

Q: Is the correct answer wrong?
A: No.

Q: I disagree with the correct answer. Who's wrong, me or GMAC?
A: You.

Q: I wrote this other version. Is it better than the correct answer?
A: No.

[SHOUMODIPR218]

choice e literally says that the usage of spices is 'in small quantities', which is not the proper message. this could mean that you don't use spices very often, but, when you do, you dump 14 kilos of allspice and 12 kilos of paprika in your pan.

the sentence needs to convey the message that the spices are the things of which quantities are small. choice d conveys this message well.

one could say that d isn't 100% parallel, but it's definitely more parallel than the other choices: in cooking, (noun) is used (passive voice construction); in medicinal usage, (noun) are taken (passive voice construction).

Hi Ron,

Could you please explain in a bit more detail the meaning difference between D and E?

Regards
Shoum

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

This is a tricky one! You really have to think about the meaning difference between D and E. Take the following examples (both correct grammatically). What's the difference in meaning?

Small people attended the conference.
The attendance of people at the conference was small.

Compare that to:

small quantities of spices are used
the usage of spices is in small quantities