Parallelism

Parallelism is the
placement of equal ideas in
words, phrases, or clauses
of similar types.

Recognizing the Correct Use of

Parallelism
Parallel grammatical structures may
be made up of two or more words of
the same part of speech, two or more
phrases of the same type, two or
more clauses of the same type, or
occasionally two or more sentences
of the same type.

Examples
PARALLEL WORDS: The wrestler looked strong, fit,
and agile.
PARALLEL PHRASES: The greatest pleasure I know
is to do a good action by stealth and to have it
found
out by accident.Charles Lamb
PARALLEL CLAUSES: The tennis star whom I have
met and
whom you saw last Thursday will
speak.
PARALLEL SENTENCES: It couldn't be, of course. It
could never,
never be.Dorothy Parker

Correcting Faulty Parallelism

Faulty parallelism occurs when a writer
uses unequal grammatical structures to
express related ideas.
Correct a sentence containing faulty parallelism
by rewriting it so that each parallel idea is
expressed in the same grammatical structure.

Faulty parallelism can involve words,

phrases, and clauses in series or in
comparisons.

Nonparallel Words, Phrases, and

Clauses in Series.
Always check a series of ideas in
your writing for parallelism .
If, for example, you begin a series
with prepositional, make all the items
in the series prepositional phrases.

CORRECTING FAULTY PARALLELISM

IN SERIES
Nonparallel
Structures

Corrected Sentences

Planning, drafting, and

revision are three steps in
the writing process.

Planning, drafting, and

revising are the three steps
in the writing process.

I was appalled to see her

manners, to hear her bad
language, and feeling her
intense animosity.

I was appalled to see her

manners, to hear her bad
language, and to feel her
intense animosity.

Some experts feel that our

population is too large, but
it will diminish.

Some experts feel that our

population is too large, but
that it will diminish.

 Though correlative conjunction, such as both

and or not only but also, connect just two
related items, writers sometimes include more
words than they should with the first part of the
conjunction. The result is faulty parallelism
EXAMPLE:

NONPARALLEL: The student not only won a National

Merit
Scholarship but also a local scholarship.
CORRECTED: The student won not only a National Merit
scholarship
but also a local scholarship.

Nonparallel Words, Phrases, and

Clauses in Comparisons
As the old saying goes, you cannot
compare apples with oranges. In
writing comparisons, you generally
should compare a phrase with the
same type of phrase and a clause
with the same type of clause.
Furthermore, you should make sure
your ideas themselves, as well as the
structures you use to express them,
are logically parallel.

CORRECTING FAULTY PARALLELISM

IN COMPARISONS
Nonparallel
Structures
Most people prefer corn
to eating Brussels
sprouts.
I left my job at 7:00 p.m.
rather than stopping work
at 5:00 p.m.
I delight in foggy days as
much as sunny days
delight other people.

Corrected Sentence
Most people prefer corn
to Brussels sprouts.
I left my job at 7:00 p.m.
rather than at the usual
5:00 p.m.
I delight in foggy days as
much as other people
delight sunny days