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© The George Mason University Writing Center 2012 | [email protected] | writingcenter.gmu.edu
Parallel Structure
Parallel Structure occurs when items in the list are all the same sort of function. For example: "Today, I bought eggs, milk, and sugar." In this example, eggs, milk, and sugar are all objects of "bought." What Goes Wrong When sentences use items that function differently from one another, then the sentence does not have parallel structure and is grammatically incorrect. For example: "Margaret tends to do things quickly, carefully, and with grace." Quickly and carefully are both adverbs ending in -ly, but "with grace" is different, because “grace” is the object of a preposition, not an adverb ending in -ly. This could be easily corrected by changing "with grace" to the adverb "gracefully," so that all three are adverbs and the structure is parallel. Fixing the Problem The easiest way to check your parallel structure is to break the sentence into a bullet-pointed list. Below are the two sentences from above, broken down in this fashion. Today, I bought:
• eggs • milk • sugar.
In the above example, it’s easy to see that each item in the list is an object of the verb “bought.” Margaret tends do things
• quickly • carefully • with grace.
Again, a reader can quickly see that “quickly” and “carefully” are both adverbs. “With grace” sticks out as different, and something that needs to be remedied. Margaret likes
• to paint • sleeping • drinking coffee.
In this example, “sleeping” and “drinking coffee” are both utilizing present participles, while “to paint” is an infinitive. Even though “drinking” has an object (“coffee”) and “sleeping” does not have an object, they are still the same part of speech while “to paint” is not. This sentence could be remedied as, “Margaret likes painting, sleeping, and drinking coffee.” The Exception to the Rule Occasionally, breaking parallelism can be a great way to emphasize something, as in the following example: My friend Steve is considerate, humble, and the best cook you’ll ever meet.
Last updated 10/26/2012
