Parallelism is used to balance nouns with nouns, prepositional phrases with prepositional phrases, participles with participles, infinitives with infinitives, and clauses with clauses. Consider the following example: NOT PARALLEL: In my high school, bad grades could be grounds for detention or being suspended. Parallelism enables writers to add symmetry, effectiveness, and balance to their texts. [2] In October, we plan to build a shed, paint it, and stock it. Parallelism, or parallel structure, is a way of providing balance to sentences or clauses by using a similar grammatical structure. Parallelism (grammar) In grammar, parallelism, also known as parallel structure or parallel construction, is a balance within one or more sentences of similar phrases or clauses that have the same grammatical structure. When it come to the full infinitive or the to- infinitive, it has it rules that it follows together with Conjunctions. instead of In essence, parallelism is about using repetition and rhythm to emphasize your ideas. More precisely, in grammar, it's less about meeting and more about balance. the stuff after the "and" isn't infinitive any more, so the sentence isn't parallel infinitives anymore, so it gets interpreted differently. The first sentence has two gerunds and then a to infinitive. [2] Mixing verb forms sounds unnatural to native English speakers and affects the readability of a sentence. My mother likes cooking and knitting. Here's a quick and simple definition: Parallelism is a figure of speech in which two or more elements of a sentence (or series of sentences) have the same grammatical structure. the whole phrase . Here is an example of a sentence that is NOT balanced: AWKWARD: I enjoyed the party and watching the fireworks. Parallelism is the matching of the forms of words, phrases, or clauses within a sentence. This sentence uses the coordinating conjunction "and" to link two of Jane's hobbies, but it contains faulty parallel structure because "to run" is an infinitive phrase while "swimming" is a gerund. Look at the following sentences. Parallelism is the way that we pattern writing so that similar elements in a sentence are grammatically equivalent. grammatically parallel. Often parallelism is forgotten in sentences that contain pairs of things. [1] The application of parallelism affects readability and may make texts easier to process. To cook is an infinitive, but eating is a gerund. A better choice, then, is to use three . Correcting Faulty Parallelism Parallelism is all about balancing nouns with nouns, verbs with verbs, adjectives with adjectives, infinitives with infinitives and clauses with clauses. That is, if there are two or more subjects, they are all nouns or noun phrases. Parallelism is a rhetorical device that compounds words or phrases that have equivalent meanings so as to create a definite pattern. The format of the sentence is awkward because these objects are not in parallel. This structure is particularly effective when "specifying or enumerating pairs or series of like things". The mix breaks the rhythm of parallel structure. 3. This is known as false parallelism. A common parallelism mistake is mixing gerunds with infinitives. My college professor encouraged me to pay attention to . This is an example of verbs that are not parallel. It is also used with elements joined by conjunctions, such as "My mother likes cooking and to read" compared to "My mother likes cooking and reading." First, we'll explore parallelism using infinitive phrases and gerunds. Parallel sentence elements in grammar are just like parallel lines in geometry: they face the same direction and never meet. Parallel structure, or parallelism, means using the same pattern of words to show that two or more words or ideas are of equal importance. In order to make this list parallel, all three items should be in the same grammatical form. Rule to Remember Conjoined items in a sentence must be in the same grammatical form, i.e. Now, whenever there is a conjunct "and" used after a to- infinitive verb, the second verb does not take the particle.. "to" So one could say: All that he has to do, is to stay and take her to the hospital. These "parallel" elements can be used to intensify the rhythm of language, or to draw a comparison, emphasize, or elaborate on an idea. If the sentence has a parallel structure, it improves grammar and brings flow in writing. In the sentence above, the primary verb is "enjoy," which is followed by two direct objects, "the party" and "watching the fireworks.". In this example, the infinitive provides the more elegant solution: He warned me to revise my essay a and to pay close attention to parallel structures b. Parallelism fosters reading comprehension because it enables readers to chunk information elements of a sentence (e.g., words, phrases, sentences) as coequal and related. You should always try to balance the grammatical structures of words, phrases, clauses or sentences in your writing. Using parallel structure provides clarity and places equal emphasis on the ideas you're putting forth. Parallelism (peh-ruh-LEL-iz-um) is a grammatical and rhetorical term for creating a sense of linguistic balance by repeating elements within a sentence, over the course of several sentences, or in a longer work or speech. Today we're going to look at how to maintain parallelism in three stages. I can think of two grammatical ways to parse it; the most natural interpretation would that "to fight for them and bring those changes in the life of people" is an infinitive phrase , i.e. The gerunds running and biking are mixed with the infinitive to swim. To achieve parallelism, we'll make the series in the first sentence all infinitive verbs and the one in the second both participial phrases. Maintaining parallel balance helps the reader to connect, coordinate, compare, and contrast ideas. If there are two or more verbs, they are all of the same form. Or Sally loves . Whether at home, at work, or at the shelter, Amy put others' best interests first. The shed will be made of wood and set near the back of the yard. The correct sentence would be: Sally loves cooking and trying different dishes. (Here we balance two -ing forms.) . Words and phrases within a sentence should not only match in structure, but also in tense. An infinitive is also a verb that functions like a noun, but it is constructed by using the word "to" plus the verb. Composing balanced parallel constructions contributes unity, coherence, and clarity to sentences. Parallelism occurs when when a writer joins two or more grammatical elements - words, phrases, or clauses - in grammatically balanced form. Editing your work for parallel construction improves clarity and emphasizes your points. [1] A scheme of balance, parallelism represents "one of the basic principles of grammar and rhetoric". He is tall, dark and handsome. Parallelism is all about maintaining consistency among words, phrases, or clauses. Parallelism, especially in the grammatical sense, means the construction of a sentence having parallel elements whether it comprises verbs, nouns, infinitives, or clauses. Parallelism is also used with elements being compared. Parallelism in grammar is defined as two or more phrases or clauses in a sentence that have the same grammatical structure. Each item in this series is expressed in the infinitive form, making the whole list parallel and, therefore, easier to understand. The corrected version of the sentence looks like this: Egya likes laughing, singing, and writing. This does not look or sound right and so it can be made parallel by instead using three gerunds . Also known as parallel structure or parallel construction, using parallelism may help you avoid grammatically incorrect sentences. Both series are clearly incongruent. Parallelism often appears with verb forms. Parallelism in writing occurs when you repeat the same grammatical form in multiple parts of a sentence. It makes your sentences flow and roll off your readers' tongues easily and concisely. In grammar, it refers to ensuring agreement in elements like number, verb tense, and adjective types. (Here we balance three adjectives.) while the third element (to watch TV) uses the infinitive form, which contains the basic form and a . To repair the problem, choose either an infinitive ( to + verb) or a that clause on both sides of the a and b construction.