2. ParallelisM in sentences refers to matching
grammatical structures. Elements in a sentence
that have the same function or express similar
ideas should be grammatically parallel, or
grammatically matched. Parallelism is used as a
rhetorical and stylistic device in literature,
speeches, advertising, and popular songs.
Nouns should be parallel with nouns, participles
with participles, gerunds with gerunds, infinitives
with infinitives, clauses with clauses, and so on
Parallel structure in a series
When your sentence includes a series, make
sure you have not used different grammatical
structures for the items.
3. EXAMPLES
a)She went for biking,swimming and golfing
in her vaccination.(parallel)
b)She went for a bike ride,swimming and played
golf on her vaccination.(wrong)
c)On her vaccination, she biked,went swimming
and golfed(wrong)
Ron has neither the time nor the interest to
learn chess.(parallel)
b)Ron has neither the time to learn chess nor
the interest.(wrong)
c)Ran has neither the interest for learning chess
nor the time.(wrong)
4. Correlative conjunctions:
Errors in parallel structure often occur with
correlative conjunctions: (either …or);(neither
…nor); (both …and); (not only …but also);
(whether …or). The sentence structure
following the second half of the correlative
conjunction should mirror the sentence structure
following the first half.
Either I like the job or I don't like it.(parallel:
clause with clause)
b)Either I like the job or I don't. (parallel: clause
with clause)
c)Either I like the job or not. (faulty parallelism:
clause with adverb)
5. In case of comparison:
1 a)The schools in the rural area are smaller
than the schools in the inner city.
b)The schools in the rural area are smaller than
the inner city(wrong)
2 a)He spoke more of being ambassador than
of being president.
b) He spoke more of his term as ambassador
than being president.(wrong)
Articles use
a)She saw a van, car, and bicycle collide.
b)She saw a van, a car, and a bicycle collide.
c)She saw a van, a car, and bicycle
collide.(wrong)
6. If series
...It doesn't matter what grammatical structure
you choose for your series as long as you keep
it consistent.
1 a)Elaine liked to have a beer, exchange stories
with her friends, and watch the men walk by.
(parallel)
b)Elaine liked having a beer, exchanging
stories with her friends, and watching the men
walk by. (parallel)
7. When you have more than one verb in a
sentence, be sure to make the verbs parallel
by not shifting tenses unnecessarily. Also, don't
shift from an active to a passive verb
.
a)Kate prepared the speech on the plane and
delivered it at the conference. (parallel: both
verbs are active)
b)Kate prepared the speech on the plane, and it
was delivered by her at the conference. (faulty
parallelism: active verb followed by passive
verb)
8. .In antithetical constructions, something
is true of one thing but not another. But not and
rather than are used to set up these
constructions. As with comparisons, both parts
of an antithetical construction should be parallel.
1)The administration approved the student's
right to drop the class but not to meet with the
professor.
9. Be sure that any element you want to
repeat appears after the first half of the
correlative conjunction. Look at the
position of as in the following example
1)They acted either as individual citizens
or as members of the committee.
