6.7: Parallel Structure
- Page ID
- 177466
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In writing, parallelism means that items in pairs or lists have the same grammatical form. These forms can be individual words (nouns, adjectives, adverbs), phrases (using nouns, gerunds, infinitives, and prepositions), and whole clauses (adjective, noun, and adverb).
- Participating in group sports can help children develop both physical and social skills. (a pair of adjectives)
- Intense flooding damaged the business center, the historic district, and many of the residential areas. (a list of three noun phrases)
- Social media managers are often responsible for developing an advertising strategy, producing quality content, and assisting with customer service. (three gerund phrases)
Faulty parallelism means that one or more of the items is not in the same grammatical form.
In a traditional college education students would attend lectures, study the material, and taking tests. (take tests)
Online students need to have strong computer skills, a stable internet connection, and be motivated to learn on their own. (motivation)