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Lesson Pack: Parallel Structure 

Lesson 1 
Lesson Topic: Parallel Structure 

 
 

Objective  Lesson Outline 

 
Students will be able to 
1. Individual Response: Identify items in a list 
re-write sentences to 
2. Discuss lesson objectives 
have parallel structure. 
3. Introduction: What does it mean for a sentence to be parallel? (example 1) 
 
4. Introduction: What does it mean for a sentence to be parallel? (example 2) 
5. Teacher Model: Make a sentence parallel 
6. Paired Practice: Make a sentence parallel 
7. Individual Practice: Make a sentence parallel 
8. Wrap up 

Optional Follow-up Activity 

 
Parallel Structure 

Standards 
 
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.9-10.1.a 
Use parallel structure. 

Prerequisites 
 
There is no prerequisite for this lesson. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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Slide 1/8 : Interactive Slide  Individual Response 

   
The mad scientist likes  Ask students to complete the activity. 
experimenting, researching, and   
concocting.  Say: To get started, complete the activity on your screen. 
   
The sentence contains a list of   
three things. In the blanks, type the 
three items in the list. 
 
  Students Input Sentences 
 

Discussion 
 
Select 1 correct response to display and discuss. 
 
Say: Take a look at the three words you typed into the box. How are all of these words similar? 
 
Anticipated Student Response: They all end in -ing. 
 
Say: Exactly! All the items in the list end in -ing. They are all in the same form, which makes them parallel. 
Today, you’re going to learn how to write sentences that have parallel structure. 

Slide 2/8  Objectives 

   
Today’s Objective  Discuss the objective for the lesson. 
   
By the end of class today, you will  Say: Take a minute to read today’s objective out loud to your 
be able to re-write sentences to  partner. 
have parallel structure.   
Wait for students to finish reading. 
 
Say: By the end of class today, you’ll be able to re-write sentences 
to have parallel structure. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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Slide 3/8: Interactive Slide  Teacher Model 

   
The mad scientist likes mixing  Discuss what makes the example sentence parallel. 
chemicals and studying reactions.   
 
Say: To start, let’s take a look at another sentence and talk about 
  Teacher Models Response  what makes it parallel.  
   
  Ask for a student to read the sentence aloud. 
 
Say: In your warm-up sentence, there were three items in a list that 
were parallel because they all ended with -ing. In this case, there 
are only two items in the list. What are the two items? 
 
Anticipated Student Response: mixing chemicals and studying 
reactions 
 
In the Model Your Answer box, make “mixing” and “studying” bold. 
 
Say: Yes. What makes this sentence parallel? 
 
Anticipated Student Response: Both items in the list end in -ing. 
 
Say: Yes. Both items in the list are in the same form, -ing, so the 
sentence is parallel.  

Slide 4/8: Interactive Slide  Teacher Model 

   
The mad scientist likes to mix  Explain that parallel items don’t have to end in -ing. 
chemicals and to study reactions.   
  Say: The items in a list don’t have to end in -ing to be parallel. Take 
The mad scientist likes to mix  a look at this sentence. 
chemicals and study reactions.   
 
Ask a student to read the first sentence out loud. 
  Teacher Models Response   
  Say: What makes this sentence parallel? 
   
Anticipated Student Response: To mix and to study are in the 
same form. 
 
In the Model Your Answer box, make “to mix” and “to study” bold. 
 
Say: Yes. Our sentence makes sense whether you use the -ing form 
or the to form. The important thing is that you don’t mix the two 
different forms in the list.  
 
Say: It’s also important to note that when you use the to form, you 

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can drop the second to, like in our second sentence here. 
 
Ask a student to read the second sentence out loud.  
 
In the Model Your Answer box, make “to mix” and “study” bold. 
 
Say: This is still parallel even though we dropped the second to 
because study didn’t change. It’s still in the to form, just not quite so 
repetitive.  

Slide 5/8: Interactive Slide  Teacher Model 

   
The mad scientist was pacing the  Model how to make a sentence parallel. 
floor, watched the clock, and   
mumbling to himself.  Say: Watch as I correct this sentence to be parallel.  
 
 
  Teacher Models Response  Read sentence aloud. 
   
  Say: This sentence has three items in the list. Pacing the floor, 
watched the clock, and mumbling. 
 
In the Model Your Answer box, underline “pacing,” “watched,” and 
“mumbling.” 
 
Say: Pacing and mumbling are both -ing words, so they match. 
That’s good. Watched doesn’t match the other two though, so that’s 
the one I need to change. To make it parallel with the others, I’m 
going to change it to watching. 
 
In the Model Your Answer box, type: The mad scientist was pacing the 
floor, watching the clock, and mumbling to himself. 
 
Say: Now all three items in the list match. Is there another way I 
could make this sentence parallel instead of making them all -ing 
words? 
 
Anticipated Student Response: Make them all match with 
watched. 
 
Say: Yes! Remember, for a sentence to be parallel, the items can be 
in any form as long as they all match, so I could also write this 
sentence by changing pacing and mumbling so they match watched.  
 
In the Model Your Answer box, type: The Mad scientist paced the floor, 
watched the clock, and mumbled to himself.  
 

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Slide 6/8: Interactive Slide  Paired Practice 

   
The green concoction started to fizz  Ask students to practice making a sentence parallel in pairs. 
and bubbling in the beaker.   
 
Say: Now practice with your partner. Rewrite the sentence so it is 
  Students Input Sentence  parallel. 
   

Discussion 
 
Select 2 correct responses and 2-3 incorrect responses to display and discuss. 
 
Lead a discussion about the errors students made in the incorrect responses, and then discuss the correct 
responses.  
 
Ask the following questions:   
● What are the two words in the list that need to match? 
● How can we revise the sentence so the three words are in the same form? 

Slide 7/8: Interactive Slide  Individual Practice 

   
The chemicals swirled together,  Ask students to practice making a sentence parallel on their 
beginning to react, and exploding.  own. 
 
 
  Students Input Sentence  Say: Now try one on your own. 
   

Discussion 
 
Select 2 correct responses and 2-3 incorrect responses to display and discuss. 
 
Lead a discussion about the errors students made in the incorrect responses, and then discuss the correct 
responses.  
 
Ask the following questions:   
● What are the three words in the list that need to match? 
● How can we revise the sentence so the three words are in the same form? 

 
 
 
 
 
 

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Slide 8/8  Wrap-up 

   
Today, I learned:  Review what the students learned today.  
   
● Actions in a list need to be  Say: Great work everyone! Let’s review what you learned today. 
in the same form   
  Ask students to read each bullet point out loud.  
● When the words are in the   
to form, I can drop the  You can assign an independent practice activity that students can either 
second to.  complete now or later. 
   
You can also pull aside the flagged students for small group instruction.  
 
Say: Follow the instructions on your screen. If your screen says to 
begin the next activity, go ahead and begin it now. If your screen 
says to wait for instructions, please wait at your desk quietly for 
your next steps. 

 
 
 
 

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