Using Parallelism

Using Parallelism

• Frequently asked questions

- What is parallelism?

- What is faulty parallelism?

Parallelism — the use of matching words, phrases, clauses, or sentence structures to express

equivalent ideas

- Why?

It adds unity balance and force to your writing.

Faulty Parallelism creates awkward sentences that can obscure your meaning and confuse

readers.

Using Parallelism Effectively

• Parallelism:

- makes sentences easy to follow and emphasizes relationships among equivalent ideas

- highlights the correspondence between items in a series, paired items, and elements in lists

and outlines.

Using Parallelism Effectively

1. With items in a series

Coordinate elements—words, phrases, or clauses should be presented in parallel form.

Eat, drink, and be merry.

I came; I saw; I conquered.

Baby food consumption, toy production, and school construction are likely to decline as the

US population grows older.

Three factors influenced his decision to seek new employment: his desire to relocate, his need

for greater responsibility, and his dissatisfaction with his current job.

Using Parallelism Effectively

2. With paired Items

Paired point or ideas (words, phrases, or clauses) should be presented in parallel form.

Parallelism emphasizes their equivalence and connects the two ideas.

The thank-you note was short but sweet.

Roosevelt represented the United states, and Churchill represented Great Britain.

Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.

Using Parallelism Effectively

Parallel items linked by correlative conjunctions (such as not only, but also, both/and,

either/or, neither/nor, and whether/or) should be parallel.

The design team paid close attention to not only to color but also to texture.

Either repeat physics or take calculus.

Using Parallelism Effectively

Parallelism also highlights the contrast between paired elements linked by than or as.

Richards Wright and James Baldwin chose to live in Paris rather than to remain in the United

States.

Success is as much a matter of hard work as a matter of luck.

Using Parallelism Effectively

3. In List and Outlines

Elements in a list should be presented in parallel form.

The Irish potato famine had four major causes:

1. The establishment of the landlord-tenant system

2. The failure of the potato crop

3. The reluctance of England to offer adequate financial assistance

4. The passage of the corn laws

Using Parallelism Effectively

Using Parallelism Effectively

Using Parallelism Effectively

Using Parallelism Effectively

Using Parallelism Effectively

Using Parallelism Effectively

Revising Faulty Parallelism

•Faulty parallelism:

• occurs when equivalent ideas in a sentence are not presented in parallel form

Many people in developing countries suffer because the countries lack sufficient housing to

accommodate them, sufficient food to feed them, and their healthcare facilities are

inadequate.

Correct:

Many people in developing countries suffer because the countries lack sufficient housing to

accommodate them, sufficient food to feed them, and sufficient health-care facilities to

serve them.

1. Using parallel elements

Revise faulty parallelism by matching nouns with nouns, verbs with verbs, and phrases and

clauses with similarly constructed phrases and clauses.

Popular exercises for men and women include spinning, weight lifters, and jogging.

Popular exercises for men and women include spinning, weight lifting, and jogging.

Some of the side effects are skin irritation and eye irritation, and mucous membrane irritation

may also develop.

Some of the side effects that may develop are skin, eye, and mucous membrane irritation.

Revising Faulty Parallelism

2. Repeating key words

Although the use of similar grammatical structures may sometimes be enough to convey

parallelism, sentences are often clearer and more emphatic if certain keywords (articles,

prepositions, and the to in infinitives, for example) are repeated in each element of a pair or

series.

Computerization has helped industry by not allowing labor costs to skyrocket, increasing the

speed of production, and improving efficiency.

Computerization has helped industry by not allowing labor costs to skyrocket, by increasing

the speed of production, and by improving efficiency.

Revising Faulty Parallelism

3. Repeating relative pronouns

Like correlative conjunctions, the relative pronoun constructions who … and who … and

whom, and which … and which are always paired and alway introduce parallel clauses. When

you revise, check to be sure a relative pronoun introduces each clause.

The Thing, directed by Howard Hawks, and which was released in 1951, featured James

Arness as the monster.

The Thing, which was directed by Howard Hawks and which was released in 1951, featured

James Arness as the monster.

Revising Faulty Parallelism

Revising Faulty Parallelism

Revising Faulty Parallelism