Use Parallel Structures or Parallelism

Parallel Structures

English 8, Quarter 3

Week 8

Good Grammar is Essential

Good grammar helps you communicate clearly and get what you want. Grammar is the groundwork of clear communication. “The better the grammar, the clearer the message, the more likelihood of understanding the message’s intent and meaning

Communicate well

In your journey through the discussions and different tasks, you are expected to attain develop one grammar skill and when you have developed your grammar competencies, it will be easier for you to know how to organize and express the ideas in your mind. As a result, you will be able to speak, read, and write the language more fluently.

MELC

Use parallel structures

Learning Objectives:

1. recognize faulty parallels in their writing;

2. balance parallel items in a series;

3. create parallel structure between phrases and clauses;

4. use parallelism to create coherence and balance in writing; and

5. use the principles of parallel structure in the chosen output

Open Ended

Can you say something about the picture?

Look Carefully

What can you say about the sentence?

Parallel Structure or Parallelism

means using the same pattern of words to show that two or more words or ideas are of equal importance. Words and phrases within a sentence should not only match in structure, but also in tense. Writers use parallel structure to add clarity to their writing, make it easier to understand and show that their writing is structurally and grammatically correct.

Parallel Structure or Parallelism

 is considered a great persuasive tool. Its repetitive quality makes the sentence or sentences symmetrical and therefore very memorable for the readers. Parallelism makes the idea easier for readers to process because they sense a pattern and know what to expect.

How do we check for parallel structure?

You just need to make sure that every part of the sentence has the same kind of structure. 

Example 1

Xi-Yanah’s favorite activities are reading, writing, and playing the tuba.

In this sample sentence, we see that Xi-Yanah’s favorite activities all match one another:

reading, writing, and playing are all the same kind of word, verbs with an –ing ending. 

Example 2

Xi-Yanah’s favorite activities are to read, to write, and to play the tuba.

This time, the sentence is parallel because the activities all match, to + a verb.

Example 3

Xian likes to sing, to dance and to play the guitar.

Xian likes to sing, to dance and to play the guitar.

Example 4

The following activities can be done at the beach: playing volleyball, catching waves and building a sand castle.

The following activities can be done at the beach: playing volleyball, catching waves and building a sand castle.

Example 5

The doctor told them that they should take vitamins and that they should exercise regularly.

The doctor told them that they should take vitamins and that they should exercise regularly.

Multiple Choice

Parallel Structure or Parallelism is...

• repeated grammatical pattern.

• when two things happen at the same time.

• joins two complete sentences together.

• how you write the Declaration of Independence.

Multiple Choice

Which example shows correct parallel structure?

• Recommended exercise includes to run, to swim, and cycling.

• Recommended exercise includes running, swimming, and to cycle.

• Recommended exercise includes running, swimming, and cycling.

• Recommended exercise includes running, to swim, and cycling.

Fill in the Blanks

Combine the following short sentences into one long sentence which uses parallel form.

1. Writing a good essay involves pre-writing.

2. Writing a good essay involves outlining.

3. Writing a good essay involves drafting.

4. Writing a good essay involves editing.

5. Writing a good essay involves proofreading.

Fill in the Blanks

Combine each of the following groups of short sentences into one long sentence which uses parallel form.

Successful students usually have clear goals.

Successful students usually have good basic skills.

Successful students usually have strong determination.

Steps to follow in proofreading parallelism

1. Go through your paper and identify every time the words and, but, or or are used. Circle them. 2. For each circled word, look for the elements in the list. Underline them and mark where the parallelism begins and ends.

Steps to follow in proofreading parallelism

3. For each list, consider whether all elements are parallel. Consider both grammar and function.

4. Change faulty parallelism using the three strategies described earlier: change parts of speech, start the parallelism sooner, or create multiple parallelism.

Open Ended

Let’s make the sentence structure parallel.

Sentence 1:

Caitlyn likes to read, to write, and dance.

Sentence 2:

Before you play online games, you need to do the dishes, vacuum the floor, and taking out the trash



YOU DID IT WELL

WITH PARALLEL!

What I Have Learned

Write it now...

What is your takeaway for this session? 

What I Can Do

You can do!

Additional Activity

Be Active!

The End of

Third Quarter