Skip to main content
Humanities LibreTexts

6.6: Trouble Spots in Language- Parallel Structures

  • Page ID
    104432
  • \( \newcommand{\vecs}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } \) \( \newcommand{\vecd}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash {#1}}} \)\(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\)\(\newcommand{\AA}{\unicode[.8,0]{x212B}}\)

    The Problem

     

    Exercise \(\PageIndex{1}\)

    Look at the following sentences. What is wrong with each of them?

    a)     My dog is cute, friendly, and likes to play.

    b)     Elephants are huge, grey, and live a long time.

    c)      Tom is a parent, a writer, and loves animals

    Answer

    The problem here is that all coordinating parts of the sentence need to be the same part of speech. If we look at the sentences above, we see that this is not the case. When this does not happen, we have faulty parallelism. This is seen in the sentences above.

    a)     My dog is cute (adjective), friendly (adjective), and likes to play (verb).

    b)     Elephants are huge (adjective), grey (adjective), and live a long time (verb).

    c)      Tom is a parent (noun), a writer (noun), and loves animals (verb).

    These sentences can be corrected as follows:

    a)     My dog is cute (adjective), friendly (adjective), and playful (adjective).

    b)     Elephants are huge (adjective), grey (adjective), and long-lived (adjective).

    c)      Tom is a parent (noun), a writer (noun), and an animal lover (noun).

     

    You Try It!

    Correct the following sentences. There may be more than one correct answer.

    1. Sophie owns a dog, a cat, and likes tropical fish.

    ________________________________________________________________________

    1. Seniors are helped by stroking pets, taking them for walks, and they enjoy playing with them.

    ________________________________________________________________________

    1. Having a pet in the house reduces anxiety, and lots of fun, too.

    ________________________________________________________________________

    1. Pet therapy is useful for children with ADHD, people with cancer, and if you have suffered a traumatic experience.

    ________________________________________________________________________

    1. Elephants do not belong in zoos because they are too big and needing a lot of space.

    ________________________________________________________________________

    1. Bears are nocturnal, herbivorous, and live in northern B.C.

    ________________________________________________________________________

    1. Animals can help prisoners and when you are in an addiction treatment centre.

    ________________________________________________________________________

    1. Mice are rodents, small, and don’t eat much.

    ________________________________________________________________________

    1. In northern British Columbia you can see grizzly bears, black bears, and the Kermode bear also lives there.

    ________________________________________________________________________

    1. Elephants are found in Africa, India, and you can go on elephant rides in Thailand.

    ________________________________________________________________________


    6.6: Trouble Spots in Language- Parallel Structures is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

    • Was this article helpful?