PARALLEL PARALLEL STRUCTURESSTRUCTURES

Adding Rhythm To Your Writing

The Twilight ZoneThe Twilight ZoneThere is a fifth dimension beyond that

which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as

timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition,

and it lies between the pit of man’s fears, and the summit of his

knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call ... THE TWILIGHT ZONE.

(Zicree 1989, 31)

Star TrekStar TrekSpace:

The final frontierThese are the voyages of

the Starship, EnterpriseIts 5 year mission

To explore strange new worlds

To seek out new life and new civilizations

To boldly go where no man has gone before.

ParallelismParallelismParallelism is creating

grammatical rhythms with a number of word and sentence devices.

These parallel structures give prose a musical quality that adds emphasis and sound to central images.

Literal RepetitionLiteral RepetitionUsing the parallel structure of literal repetition, writers repeat

the exact same words to create an echo or a trancelike refrain.

In a piece on victory, Kristen Parker writes, They march off victoriously, or so they say. They die so victoriously, or so they think. But how victorious is it to bid good-bye to the sentiments they once knew.

Grammatical RepetitionGrammatical RepetitionGrammatical repetition is

the most common repetition used by

writers.

Grammatical repetition repeats identical

grammatical structures, but with different words.

Grammatical RepetitionGrammatical RepetitionExamples of this style can be seen in

this passage from Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address:

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.

Rhythmic CategoriesRhythmic CategoriesThree Categories:

1) Structures connected with conjunctions2) Structures created with repeated phrases 3) Structures created with repeated clauses

The Imaginary ZoneThe Imaginary ZoneEach group is to create an imaginary

zone, filling in the blanks to create a parody. You can select a subject from school (math class, history class, lunch, a dance, a sport) or from an outside interest (MTV, sports figures, actors/actresses,

novelists, political personalities). Below, a group of eight-grade

students collaborated to demonstrate how this assignment

might be written about math:

The Math ZoneThe Math Zone       There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to

man. It is a dimension as acute as one degree and as obtuse as 179

degrees. It is the vast plane between simple addition and advanced calculus, between

infinity and probability, and it lies between the teacher’s daily cup of hot coffee and the student’s daily pile of homework problems. This

is the dimension of chalkboard scribbles. It is an area which we

call the Math Zone.

The __________ Zone

          There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as

_________________ as ______________ and as _________________ as _______________. It is the

__________________ ____________________ between _________________ and ________________, between ______________ and _________________,

and it lies between the ________________ of _______________ _______________, and the

__________________ of his/her __________________. This is the dimension of

__________________. It is an area which we call ... THE __________________ ZONE.

““I Have A Dream”I Have A Dream”

Delivered 28 August 1963, at the Lincoln

Memorial, Washington D.C. by Dr. Martin Luther

King, Jr.

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/Ihaveadream.htm