Parallel construction or parallelism or parallel structure is a style used in writing a sentence, where there is a balance in phrases or clauses within one or more sentences by them having the same grammatical structure. parallelism adds elegance, clarity and symmetry to sentences. It essentially has to so with a repetition of a chosen grammatical form within a sentence.

In our example:

a. Jim likes to hunt, bike, and throwing darts. (not parallel)

Jim likes to hunt, bike, and throw darts (parallel)

The verbs, hunt, bike and throw must be in the same form (present continuous) to be parallel

b. Mimie has to study, drive her sister to the store, and enjoy herself in the garden. (not parallel).

The sentence in option b is not parallel because the other actions apart from "study" have a place where they took place; drive her sister to the store, enjoy herself in the garden, however, "study" doesn't have a place where the action occurs.

c. Jane will throw a ball, then she will mow the lawn. (not parallel)

the sentence is not parallel because there is an inconsistency in the pattern of the construct. a parallel version is:

Jane will first throw a ball, then she will mow the lawn, or

jane will throw a ball and mow the lawn.

d. Joe will go running, biking, and hunting. (parallel)

all the verbs are in the present continuous form.

6 0

2 years ago