If you’re anything like me, you love a good list. But what happens when lists in our writing don’t quite match up? Most likely, you have an issue with parallel structure.
What Is It?
Parallel structure or parallelism is the matching of items in a written sequence to ensure they are structurally and grammatically sound. This means using the same tense and pattern of words to make sentences more precise. If one or multiple words or phrases do not match, it would be considered shifted construction or faulty parallelism.
Writers often get into trouble with parallelism when trying to diversify their words and phrases. Although variety is great in writing, keeping parallel structure within a sentence gives rhythm, emphasis, organization and clarity.
Take the sentence above. If we were to restructure this sentence with faulty parallelism it might say something like this:
Keeping parallel structure within a sentence gives rhythm, emphasis, organizes your sentence and clarity.
This is difficult for readers to follow because the items in the sequence do not structurally match. Our brains when reading are constantly trying to make sense of words and phrases. Sentences like this can be distracting and disrupt the flow of one’s reading.
Let’s try a few more examples:
Incorrect: Last summer, I traveled to California to go hiking, shop and visiting family.
Correct: Last summer, I traveled to California to hike, shop and visit family.
If you’re having trouble with parallel structure, try to find the list within your sentence. In this case it would be: hike, shop, visit family. If these words in your list don’t match up, ask yourself a few questions.
Are they past or present tense? Are they gerunds (-ing words) or infinitives (to + verb)? Do the nouns, pronouns and modifiers remain consistent throughout? Does it match the voice of the surrounding sentences?
Famous speakers such as Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr. and Winston Churchill were absolute pros at using parallel structure to utilize the power of repetition and emphasize phrases.
Let’s look at a Churchill quote for our last example:
An incorrect version would read: “I have nothing to offer but blood, toiling, tears and sweating.”
Instead, Churchill correctly used parallel structure and said: “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.”
Always remember to edit for parallelism—it might make the difference in sounding like an amateur or professional writer.
