Melina Verón

English Language II

UTN

July 2011

PARALLELISM

Parallelism

It means using the same pattern of words to show that two or more ideas have the same level of importance. This can happen at the word, phrase, or sentence level. We can join parallel structures with coordinated conjunctions such as “and” or “or.”

(Driscoll Dana Lynn)

At Word Level

Examples

These apples are fresh and sweet.

These apples and oranges are fresh.

We ate the fruit happily and quickly.

(“Showing relationship between ideas”206)

At Phrase Level

Examples

Mary likes to swim, to hike, and to ride a bicycle.

When Anna moved, she had to rent an apartment, make new friends, and find a job.

At Clause Level

A parallel structure that begins with clauses must keep on with clauses. Changing to another pattern or changing the voice of the verb will break parallelism.

(Driscoll, Dana Lynn)

Examples

The coach told the players that they should get a lot of sleep, that they should not eat too much, and that they should do some warm-up exercises before the game.The coach told the players that they should get a lot of sleep, not eat too much, and do some warm-up exercises before the game.

Lists after colon

Keep all the elements in the same form.

Example

The dictionary can be used for these purposes: to find word meanings, pronunciations, correct spellings, and irregular verbs.

Works Cited

Driscoll, Dana Lynn. “Parallel Structure." The Purdue OWL. Purdue U Writing Lab, 2010-04-17 . Web.2011-07-19.

“Showing Relationship Between Ideas”-Part I. Print.