The word “unlike” is often used to compare two things or express a difference between them. It indicates that the two things being compared are not similar or do not share the same characteristics. It helps to highlight distinctions and contrasts in a clear way.
Let’s see few examples:
As a preposition:
Ex. 1: ‘Unlike most birds, penguins cannot fly’. This sentence compares penguins to other birds and highlights the difference that penguins cannot fly while most other birds can.
Ex. 2: ‘Unlike her sister, Sara enjoys reading books.’ This sentence compares Sara to her sister and emphasizes the difference that Sara enjoys reading books, but her sister does not.
As an adjective:
Ex. 1: ‘This dress is unlike anything I’ve seen before.’ Here in this example, “unlike” points to the dress and suggests that it is different from anything you have seen previously.
Ex. 2: ‘The two brothers are very unlike in their personalities.’ Here “unlike” indicates that the brothers have contrasting personalities. They don’t match to each other.
As an adverb:
Ex. 1: ‘Jane dances gracefully, unlike her clumsy brother.’ In this example, “unlike” highlights the contrast between Jane’s graceful dancing and her brother’s clumsiness.
Ex. 2: ‘Mike always arrives late, unlike his punctual colleagues.’ Here, use of the word “unlike” points out the contrast between Mike’s habit of being late whereas his colleagues are punctual.
Hope this helps you guys!!!