Chapter 9.13 Parallelism
Parallelism—also called parallel structure—means using the same kind of structure when you present ideas that are related or equal. It’s a part of good grammar, writing style, and clear communication. When used correctly, parallelism helps your readers (and even you) better understand what you’re writing about.
Using different sentence lengths and patterns in your writing is a great way to keep your reader interested. But it’s also important that your sentences are balanced. A strong sentence has parts that match in structure and flow well together. In this part, you will learn how to build strong, balanced sentences by using parallelism.
Parallelism is when you use the same structure for related words, phrases, or parts of a sentence. This gives your writing a smooth, clear rhythm. When a sentence doesn’t follow this pattern—called faulty parallelism—it can sound awkward or confusing. Most people notice this without even thinking about it, because the sentence just doesn’t sound right
The most famous line from President John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address provides an example of parallel structure: “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.”
Examples
Examples of Faulty Parallelism (a failure to create grammatically parallel structures in a sentence):
Kelly had to iron, do the washing, and shopping before her parents arrived.
Driving a car requires coordination, patience, and to have good eyesight.
Ali prefers jeans to wearing a suit.
All of these sentences contain faulty parallelism. Although they are factually correct, the construction is clunky and confusing. In the first example, three different verb forms are used. In the second and third examples, the writer begins each sentence by using a noun (coordination, jeans), but ends with a phrase (to have good eyesight, wearing a suit). Now read the same three sentences that have correct parallelism.
Examples
Examples of Correct Parallelism
Kelly had to do the ironing, washing, and shopping before her parents arrived.
Driving a car requires coordination, patience, and good eyesight.
Ali prefers wearing jeans to wearing a suit.
When these sentences are written using a parallel structure, they sound more aesthetically pleasing because they are balanced. Repetition of grammatical construction also minimizes the amount of work the reader has to do to decode the sentence. This enables the reader to focus on the main idea in the sentence and not on how the sentence is put together.
When to Use Parallelism
- Presenting a series of items.
Ex: Popular summer vacation ideas include visiting relatives, hiking in state parks, and spending time at the beach.
- Offering choices.
Ex: The instructor announced that each student in class could either write a ten-page report or take the final exam.
- Making a point effectively.
- Many famous speeches and pieces of writing feature skillful parallelism.
- Parallelism makes things memorable.
- Ex: “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.”
Exercise 9.13.1
On a separate sheet of paper, revise the following sentences to create parallel structure.
- Mr. Holloway enjoys reading and to play his guitar at weekends.
- Breaking out of the prison compound, the escapees moved carefully, quietly, and were quick on their feet.
- The cyclist owns both a mountain bike and has a racing bike.
- Thao would rather listen to her father than be taking advice from me.
- The bowl was filled with crisp apples, juicy oranges, and bananas that were ripe.
- My neighbor likes to plant a garden, watering it, and even weed it.
- Teenagers enjoy a variety of activities, including playing video games, scrolling through social media, and to visit the mall.
- Louie, my crazy shih tzu loves running after Frisbees and plays with leaves.
- After I get off work, I’m driving to the gym, doing five miles, and weights.
- Gabriel often wraps presents in bright paper or newspaper pages that are colorful.
Attributions
7.3: Parallelism is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Anonymous via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.
WCS6: Using Parallelism adapted from Chapter 16 “Sentence Style” in Writer’s Handbook v 1.0 used according to Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 3.0
