Question

Parallelism is tested on the ACT English test in the context of phrases or items in a list. In parallel construction, the phrases or items must be in the same form. This can be tested with a number of parts of speech: nouns, verbs, prepositions, etc.
Which sentence is not written in parallel structure?

Question 2 options:



I love Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, snowboarding and to read.



“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”



After work I pick my kids up from school, finish homework, cook dinner and complete chores.



Quick, simple, logical, multiple choice questions are my favorite.

please explain why

Answer 1

Answer:

The sentence that is not written in parallel structure is the following one: I love Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, snowboarding and to read.

Explanation:

Parallel structure, also called parallelism, is the repetition of a chosen grammatical form within a sentence. By making each item follow the same grammatical structure, you create a parallel construction.

In the sentence above, there are three elements coordinated by the conjunction and. When you connect two or more clauses or phrases with a coordinating conjunction, you should use a parallel construction. That is to say, all the parts of speech should be the same. In this case, the elements coordinated are NPs (noun phrases) that function as the direct of the verb to love. However, the phrase to love is not an NP but a VP (verbal phrase). To correct the error of faulty parallelism, you should replace that VP with its corresponding  NP (reading). Consequently the revised version of the sentence would be as follows: I love Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, snowboarding and reading.