F. Parallel Structure
What is Parallel Structure?
It’s simply the practice of using the same structures or forms multiple times, with the goal of ensuring that the parts match one another. Compare the two following sentences:
Example 1
Yara loves running, to swim, and biking.
Yara loves running, swimming, and biking.
Was the second sentence easier to comprehend than the first? The second sentence uses parallelism—all three verbs are gerunds, whereas in the first sentence, two are gerunds and one is an infinitive. While the first sentence is technically correct, it’s easy to trip up over the mismatched items. The application of parallelism improves writing style and readability and makes sentences easier to process. Parallel structure can be applied to a single sentence, a paragraph, or even multiple paragraphs.
Compare the following examples:
Example 2
Lacking parallelism: “She likes cooking, jogging, and to read.”
- Parallel: “She likes cooking, jogging, and reading.”
- Parallel: “She likes to cook, jog, and read.”
Lacking parallelism: “He likes to swim and running.”
- Parallel: “He likes to swim and to run.”
- Parallel: “He likes swimming and running.”
Once again, the examples above combine gerunds and infinitives. To make them parallel, the sentences should be rewritten with just gerunds or just infinitives. Note that the first nonparallel example, while inelegantly worded, is grammatically correct: “cooking,” “jogging,” and “to read” are all grammatically valid conclusions to “She likes.”
Example 3
Lacking parallelism: “The dog ran across the yard, jumped over the fence, and down the alley sprinted.”
Grammatical but not employing parallelism: “The dog ran across the yard and jumped over the fence, and down the alley he sprinted.”
Parallel: “The dog ran across the yard, jumped over the fence, and sprinted down the alley.”
The first nonparallel example above is not grammatically correct: “down the alley sprinted” is not a grammatically valid conclusion to “The dog.” The second example, which does not attempt to employ parallelism in its conclusion, is grammatically valid; “down the alley he sprinted” is an entirely separate clause. If you read the second sentence aloud, however, you will notice that it sounds awkward.
Parallelism can also apply to names. If you’re writing a research paper that includes references to several different authors, you should be consistent in your references. For example, if you talk about Jane Goodall and Henry Harlow, you should say “Goodall and Harlow,” not “Jane and Harlow” or “Goodall and Henry.” This is something that would carry on throughout your entire paper: you should use the same mode of address for every person you mention.
You can also apply parallelism across a passage:
- Manuel painted eight paintings in the last week. Jennifer sculpted five statues in the last month. Zama wrote fifteen songs in the last two months.
Each of the sentences in the preceding paragraph has the same structure: Name + -ed ve