Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993.
unlike (prep., conj.)
The preposition frequently raises usage questions because it can so often lead to faulty parallelism: parallelism is present in Unlike my sister, I can’t swim, but it’s marred in Unlike in this country, the British drive on the left. Edited English frequently requires a subordinate clause beginning with as or whereas to establish the parallelism: As the Swedes no longer do, the British still drive on the left or Whereas we do not, the British drive on the left. Conjunctive unlike, as in Unlike the way things are in our town, Smithfield has parking meters, occurs frequently and appropriately in Conversational and Informal contexts, but is inappropriate in most Oratorical and Formal use. See FALSE COMPARISON; LIKE (2).
