Parallelism

Parallelism

By MARISSA RONGCALES

Objectives

• ​Identify sentences that are parallel and not parallel.

• Identify ways to create parallelism in writing.

• Write and revise sentences using parallelism.

Draw

Draw 2 or more parallel lines on the board.

Open Ended

Are Parallel lines important in our daily life? Why? Write your answers on the board.

Open Ended

How about you, do you need work life balance as a student?

Introduction

• Parallelism is the use of similar structure in related words, clauses, or phrases. It creates a sense of rhythm and balance within a sentence. As readers, we often correct faulty parallelism—a lack of parallel structure—intuitively because an unbalanced sentence sounds awkward and poorly constructed. Let's take a look in the following examples:

Multiple Choice

Kelly had to iron, do the washing, and shopping before her parents arrived.

• Parallel

• Not Parallel

Multiple Choice

Driving a car requires coordination, patience, and to have good eyesight.

• Parallel

• Not Parallel

Both are faulty parallelism.

• Kelly had to iron, do the washing, and shopping before her parents arrived.

• ​Driving a car requires coordination, patience, and to have good eyesight.

English | 90

Parallelism

Correct the following to make the sentence parallel.​

• Kelly had to iron, do the washing, and shopping before her parents arrived.

​

English | 90

Parallelism

• Kelly had to iron, do the washing, and shopping before her parents arrived.

​

Corrected:

Kelly had to do the ironing, washing, and shopping before her parents arrived.

English | 90

Parallelism

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• ​Driving a car requires coordination, patience, and to have good eyesight.

English | 90

Parallelism

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• ​Driving a car requires coordination, patience, and to have good eyesight.

​

Corrected:​

Driving a car requires coordination, patience, and good eyesight.

English | 90

Parallelism

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• ​A simple way to check for parallelism in your writing is to make sure you have paired nouns with nouns, verbs with verbs, prepositional phrases with prepositional phrases, and so on. Underline each element in a sentence and check that the corresponding element uses the same grammatical form.

English | 90

Parallelism

Creating Parallelism Using Coordinating Conjunctions

When you connect two clauses using a coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so), make sure that the same grammatical structure is used on each side of the conjunction.

​

Take a look at the following example:

Parallelism

Creating Parallelism Using Coordinating Conjunctions

When you connect two clauses using a coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so), make sure that the same grammatical structure is used on each side of the conjunction.

​

Take a look at the following example:

Parallelism

Creating Parallelism Using Coordinating Conjunctions

When I walk the dog, I like to listen to music and talking to friends on the phone.

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Parallelism

Creating Parallelism Using Coordinating Conjunctions

When I walk the dog, I like to listen to music and talking to friends on the phone.

​

Corrected:

When I walk the dog, I like listening to music and talking to friends on the phone.​

​

Parallelism

Creating Parallelism Using Coordinating Conjunctions

​

​The same technique should be used for joining items or lists in a series:

​

This committee needs to decide whether the company should reduce its workforce, cut its benefits, or lowering workers’ wages.

​​

Parallelism

Creating Parallelism Using Coordinating Conjunctions

This committee needs to decide whether the company should reduce its workforce, cut its benefits, or lowering workers’ wages.

​

Corrected:

​This committee needs to decide whether the company should reduce its workforce, cut its benefits, or lower workers’ wages.

​

Parallelism

Creating Parallelism Using Than or As

When you are making a comparison, the two items being compared should have a parallel structure. Comparing two items without using parallel structure can lead to confusion about what is being compared. Comparisons frequently use the words than or as, and the items on each side of these comparison words should be parallel.

​

Take a look at the following example:

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Parallelism

Creating Parallelism Using Than or As

Swimming in the ocean is much tougher than a pool.

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Parallelism

Creating Parallelism Using Than or As

Swimming in the ocean is much tougher than a pool.

​

In this sentence, the elements before the comparison word (than) are not equal to the elements after the comparison word. It appears that the writer is comparing an action (swimming) with a noun (a pool).​

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Parallelism

Creating Parallelism Using Than or As

​

Swimming in the ocean is much tougher than a pool.

​

​Corrected:

​

​Swimming in the ocean is much tougher than swimming in a pool.

Parallelism

Creating Parallelism Using Than or As

​To correct some instances of faulty parallelism, it may be necessary to add or delete words in a sentence.

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A brisk walk is as beneficial to your health as going for a run.​

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​

Parallelism

Creating Parallelism Using Than or As

​A brisk walk is as beneficial to your health as going for a run.​

​

Corrected:​

​Going for a brisk walk is as beneficial to your health as going for a run.

​​

Parallelism

Creating Parallelism Using Than or As

​A brisk walk is as beneficial to your health as going for a run.​

​

Corrected:​

​Going for a brisk walk is as beneficial to your health as going for a run.

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​In this example, it is necessary to add the verb phrase going for to the sentence in order to clarify that the act of walking is being compared to the act of running.

Parallelism

• whether…or

• rather…than

• both…and

• ​either…or

• not only…but also

• neither…nor

​A correlative conjunction is a paired conjunction that connects two equal parts of a sentence and shows the relationship between them. Common correlative conjunctions include the following:

Creating Parallelism Using Correlative Conjunctions

Parallelism

​Correlative conjunctions should follow the same grammatical structure to create a parallel sentence. Take a look at the following example:

​

Faulty:

We can neither wait for something to happen nor can we take evasive action.

​

In this sentence, the construction of the second part of the sentence does not match the construction of the first part.​

Parallelism

​Faulty:

We can neither wait for something to happen nor can we take evasive action.

​

Corrected​:

We can neither wait for something to happen nor take evasive action.

​

In this sentence, omitting needless words and matching verb constructions create a parallel structure. Sometimes, rearranging a sentence corrects faulty parallelism.​​

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Parallelism

Let's have another example:

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Faulty: It was both a long movie and poorly written.

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Parallelism

Let's have another example:

​

Faulty: It was both a long movie and poorly written.

​

​Correct: The movie was both long and poorly written.

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Parallelism

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Parallelism creates a sense of rhythm and balance in writing by using the same grammatical structure to express equal ideas.

• Faulty parallelism occurs when elements of a sentence are not balanced, causing the sentence to sound clunky and awkward.

• Parallelism may be created by connecting two clauses or making a list using coordinating conjunctions; by comparing two items using than or as; or by connecting two parts of a sentence using correlative conjunctions.

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Parallelism

​B. Summative Test 5

I. Correct the faulty parallelism in the following sentences to make them clear, concise, and easy to read.

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II. Cross out the element in each series that is not parallel.

​A. PARALLELISM EXERCISES

Written Works in Canvas this week:

Some text here about the topic of discussion

I.

1. ​Wen gets her daily exercise by walking her dog, going for a bike ride, and cleaning.

2. Would you prefer the graceful owl, rats, or a sneaky cat as your pet?

3. The difference between rural and country living is the height of the buildings and the population.

4. Stress makes it difficult to exercise regularly, have relationships that are stable, and be eating food with benefits to one’s health.

5. The TLC can help your writing skills, to gain independence, and confidently completing your assignments.

Parallelism

PARALLELISM EXERCISES

I. Correct the faulty parallelism in the following sentences to make them clear, concise, and easy to read.

1. ​Wen gets her daily exercise by walking her dog, going for a bike ride, and cleaning.

2. Would you prefer the graceful owl, rats, or a sneaky cat as your pet?

3. The difference between rural and country living is the height of the buildings and the population.

4. Stress makes it difficult to exercise regularly, have relationships that are stable, and be eating food with benefits to one’s health.

5. The TLC can help your writing skills, to gain independence, and confidently completing your assignments.

Parallelism

PARALLELISM EXERCISES

Parallelism