A Guide to Parallel Form

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A Guide to Parallel Form

• Methods for improving coherence, unity, and
  balance in writing.

http//faculty.valenciacc.edu/ataylor/downloads
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Parallelism in Writing

• Many students feel that parallel form is a
  concept that only a rocket scientist could
  understand however, parallel form is actually
  quite easy once students learn the parts of
  speech and learn how to spot grammatical
  patterns.

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Parallelism in Writing

• Parallelism utilizes the same or similar
  grammatical form or structure to relate ideas of
  equal importance.
• Parallelism increases coherence by breaking
  ideas into elements of similar grammatical form.

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Parallelism in Writing

• Is this sentence in parallel form?
• She enjoys reading, to play piano, and hard
  work.
• Before determining if it is parallel, the
  grammatical structure of each clause must be
  identified.
• reading is a present participle.
• to play piano is an infinitive a noun
• hard work is an adjective a noun

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Parallelism in Writing

• Since parallelism has been defined as the same
  or similar grammatical form or structure to
  relate ideas of equal importance, it is clear
  that the sentence is not in parallel form.
• In order to put the sentence in parallel form,
  each of the clauses must utilize the same
  grammatical elements.

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Parallelism in Writing

• So the sentence
• She enjoys reading, to play piano, and hard
  work.
• becomes
• She enjoys reading, playing piano, and working
  hard. (participles)
• or
• She enjoys to read, to play piano, and to work
  hard. (infinitives)

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Parallelism in Writing

• Use parallelism when listing items in a series.
• Spock tried threats, pleading, and shouting but
  his brain would not cooperate.
• Spock tried threats, pleas, and shouts, but his
  brain would not cooperate.
• Spock tried threatening, pleading, and shouting,
  but his brain would not cooperate.

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Parallelism in Writing

• Use Parallel form with longer phrases and
  clauses.
• He bought her flowers, had sent some candy, and
  played music, but she still tore his heart out.
• He bought her flowers, sent her candy, and
  played her music, but she still tore his heart
  out.

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Parallelism in Writing

• Whenever possible, parallel form should be used
  with all types of compound sentences which
  include
• compound or coordinate sentences (fanboys)
• conjunctive adverbs
• correlative conjunctions
• than or as clauses

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Parallelism in Writing

• Remember that a compound sentence is balanced,
  so whenever possible use the same grammatical
  pattern on both sides of the coordinating
  conjunction.
• Noun Verb Infinitive Verb
  Noun ccj Noun Verb
  Infinitive Verb Noun
• Spock loves to read poetry, and he loves to
  drink cola.

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Parallelism in Writing

• Conjunctive Adverbs
• Noun Verb
  art Adjective Noun
  Conjunctive Noun Verb art
• Adverb
• Spock needed a quick boost hence, he found a
• Adjective Noun
• faster way.

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Parallelism in Writing

• Correlative conjunctions
• Correlative Noun Verb
  Subject Correlative Noun Verb
  art Subject
• Conjunction
  Complement Conjunction
  Complement
• Either Spock is crazy or Spock is a genius.

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Parallelism in Writing

• With than or As
• Noun Verb art Adjective
  Adjective Noun
  Noun Verb art
• Spock is a better crossing guard than he is a
• Adjective Adjective
  Noun
• computer repair technician.

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Parallelism in Writing

• Whenever possible lists and outlines should be
  put in parallel form. Parallelism makes lists
  easier to understand and may help to avoid
  disputes caused by poor reading comprehension.

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Parallelism in Writing

• Not Parallel
• some sugar
• a box of Wheaties
• green beans six cans
• eggs
• jug of milk

• Parallel
• two bags of sugar
• one box of Wheaties
• six cans of green beans
• one dozen eggs
• one gallon of milk

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Parallelism in Writing

• Often similar grammatical form isnt enough to
  signal parallelism, repeating of key words can
  also help to make sentences more emphatic.
• They fought to protect farms, crops, and wives.
• Farms, crops, and wives are all plural nouns,
  but the sentence can be more emphatic.

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Parallelism in Writing

• They fought to protect their farms, their crops,
  and their wives.
• By repeating the key word their the writer is
  reminding the reader that they are fighting for
  their own possessions. The sentence is also more
  emphatic because the parallelism has been
  increased from simply plural nouns to possessive
  pronoun plural noun.

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Parallelism in Writing

• Whenever possible use parallel sentences in
  paragraphs and essays. This is best accomplished
  by the writer making a conscious decision to
  gravitate toward one particular type of sentence
  construction such as a present participle or an
  infinitive phrase.

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Parallelism in Writing

• Jason has an amazing ability to imitate others.
  When Jason began to walk, he would often stumble
  and hit his head on the coffee table. To get
  Jason to stop crying, my wife began to hit the
  coffee table and say, Bad Table. This worked
  well until one day grandma mentioned that Missy
  was a Bad Dog. When Jason heard this, he
  jumped to his feet, ran to Missy, and began to
  hit Missy with all his might and he started to
  shout Bad Dog!

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Parallelism in Writing

• Utilizing parallelism in writing helps to bring
  unity and coherence to writing. Remember to use
  parallelism with compound sentences, lists,
  outlines, and longer pieces of writing.
• To increase parallelism in your writing
• is a great way to increase your grade
• in the course.

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Parallelism in Writing

• The End