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Parallel Sentence Structures

The document discusses parallelism in sentences and provides examples of correct and faulty parallel structure. It explains that elements in a sentence that have the same function or express similar ideas should use parallel grammatical structures. Some situations where parallel structure is important include series, comparisons, correlative conjunctions, and verbs. Maintaining parallel structure makes writing balanced, memorable and avoids ambiguity.

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Madiha ToOr
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99 views

Parallel Sentence Structures

The document discusses parallelism in sentences and provides examples of correct and faulty parallel structure. It explains that elements in a sentence that have the same function or express similar ideas should use parallel grammatical structures. Some situations where parallel structure is important include series, comparisons, correlative conjunctions, and verbs. Maintaining parallel structure makes writing balanced, memorable and avoids ambiguity.

Uploaded by

Madiha ToOr
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Parallel Sentence Structures

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.

1. I sighed as a lover, I obeyed as a son


2. Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body
3. Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your
country

Parallelism lends balance and grace to writing. It can make a sentence memorable.
Even in prose not destined for greatness, parallelism is important.

Faulty parallelism

A failure to create grammatically parallel structures when they are appropriate is


referred to as faulty parallelism. In the following examples, note the difference
between correct parallel structure and faulty parallelism.

F:  What counts isn't how you look but your behavior.


C: What counts isn't how you look but how you behave.

F: The president promised to reform health care, preserve social security, and a


balanced budget.
C: The president promised to reform health care, preserve social security
and balance the budget.

Nouns should be parallel with nouns, participles with participles, gerunds with gerunds,
infinitives with infinitives, clauses with clauses, and so on. Be especially vigilant in the
following situations.

Parallel structure in a series

When your sentence includes a series, make sure you have not used different
grammatical structures for the items.

He described skiing in the Alps, swimming in the Adriatic, and the drive across the


Sahara Desert. (Faulty parallelism)

He described skiing in the Alps, swimming in the Adriatic, and driving across the


Sahara Desert. (Parallel)
Note: In the parallel version, all the elements in the series begin with
gerunds: skiing, swimming, and driving. In the nonparallel version, the final
element is a noun but not a gerund.

The elements would remain parallel even if the phrases following the gerunds were
changed or omitted. The length of the items in the series does not affect the parallel
structure.

He described skiing, swimming in the Adriatic, and driving across the desert. (parallel)

It doesn't matter what grammatical structure you choose for your series as long as you
keep it consistent.

John liked to have a beer, exchange stories with his friends, and watch the men walk
by.
John liked having a beer, exchanging stories with his friends, and watching the men
walk by.

When you use words such as to, a, an, his, her, or their with items in a series, you can
use the word with the first item, thus having it apply to all the items; or you can repeat it
with each item. If you choose to repeat it, you must do so with all the items, not just
some of them.

He liked their courage, stamina, and style. (parallel)


He liked their courage, their stamina, and their style. (parallel)
He liked their courage, stamina, and their style. (not parallel)
She saw a van, car, and bicycle collide. (parallel)
She saw a van, a car, and a bicycle collide. (parallel)
She saw a van, a car, and bicycle collide. (not parallel)

When you are comparing items in a sentence, obviously parallelism will be important.
Make sure that the elements you are comparing or contrasting are grammatically
parallel.

F: He spoke more of his term as ambassador than being president.

C: He spoke more of being ambassador than of being president.

F: The schools in the rural area are smaller than the inner city.

C: The schools in the rural area are smaller than the schools in the inner city.
In the second sentence, schools are being contrasted to the inner city. What the writer
wants to contrast are schools in the rural area with schools in the inner city.

In antithetical constructions, something is true of one thing but not another and both
parts of an antithetical construction should be parallel.

NOT The administration approved the student's right to drop the class but


not meeting with the professor

The administration approved the student's right to drop the class but not to
meet with the professor.

NOT  The committee chose to postpone the motion rather than voting on it.

The committee chose to postpone the motion rather than to vote on it.

Parallel structure with 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.

1. The scientists disputed not only the newspaper article but also the university's


official statement. (parallel: phrase with phrase)
The scientists disputed not only the newspaper article but also they disputed the
university's official statement. (faulty parallelism: phrase with clause)
2. Either I like the job or I don't like it. (parallel: clause with clause)
3. Either I like the job or I don't. (parallel: clause with clause)
Either I like the job or not. (faulty parallelism: clause with adverb)
4. I have neither the patience nor the time to complete the assignment. (parallel:
noun phrase with noun phrase)
I have neither the patience to complete the assignment nor do I have the time
complete it. (faulty parallelism: phrase with clause)

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 examples. In the second
sentence, as appears before either and is repeated after or, which makes the
construction not parallel.
They acted either as individual citizens or as members of the committee.
NOT They acted as either individual citizens or as members of the committee.

In the following example, the last sentence, we expected appears before the first half of


the correlative conjunction and should not be repeated after the second half.

We expected not only to be late but also to be exhausted.


OR We expected to be not only late but also exhausted. (better)
BUT NOT We expected not only to be late but also we expected to be exhausted.

Parallel structure with verbs

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.

Kate prepared the speech on the plane and delivered it at the conference. (parallel:


both verbs are active)
Kate prepared the speech on the plane, and it was delivered by her at the conference.
(faulty parallelism: active verb followed by passive verb)

Sometimes sentences use a single verb form with two helping verbs. Look at the
following example.

Robert has in the past and will in the future continue to support the measure. (incorrect)

To support belongs with will continue, but not with has. If you read the sentence
without and will in the future continue, you will see this: Robert has in the past to
support the measure. Rewrite the sentence to include a participial form for has.

Robert has in the past supported, and will in the future continue to support, the


measure.
OR Robert has supported the measure in the past, and he will continue to support it in
the future.

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