Parallelisms in sentences

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DANCEL A. UDQUIMDISCUSSANT

BARRIO OBRERO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

PARALLELISM IN SENTENCES

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DO YOU WANT THEME PAPERS WITH LESS RED MARKS?

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Today we will try to :

Help you identify common sentence errors

Give you easy ways to make corrections

Enable you to develop your own

personal editing checklist

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But this TRAINING will NOT :

Make your sentence errors disappear

Guarantee “A” papers

But it will help you get closer to your goal

of less red, more well -said

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Let us Start.

Are you ready?

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PARALLELISMS in SENTENCES

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WHAT IS PARALLELISM?

Using the same grammatical form for equal ideas

is called PARALLEL STRUCTURE

or PARALLELISM.

Parallelism means that a series of words,

phrases, and clauses that serve the same function

in a sentence should be given

balanced and equal grammatical form.

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WHAT DOES PARALLELISM LOOK LIKE?

For example:

Direct objects should “match” each other.

I like golfing, hiking, and to travel to other countries.

I like golfing, hiking, and traveling to other countries.

We saw her pride in herself and how jealous she was of others.

We saw her pride in herself and her jealousy of others.

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WHAT DOES PARALLELISM LOOK LIKE?

Another example:

Modifiers should “match” each other.

• Mike seemed sad, restless, and like he was

afraid of something.

• Mike seemed sad, restless, and fearful.

• Annie dances gracefully and with a lot of skill.

• Annie dances gracefully and skillfully.

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WHAT’S SO GREAT ABOUT PARALLELISM?

Do you agree?

Parallelism• Makes your sentences more graceful

by giving them a smooth rhythm.

• Clarifies your meaning or logic.

• Shows connections or relationships.

• Creates coherence in your writing.

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What is so great about PARALLELISM?

Do you agree?

• We use PARALLELISM to

give equal importance to

related sentence parts or

related ideas by putting them

in matching grammatical

structures.

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Let us Start.

Are you ready to create parallelism?

MAKE ITEMS IN A SERIES PARALLEL

Most children would rather eat a hot dog,

chips, and a cookie.

(singular, plural, singular)

Most children would rather eat hot dogs,

chips, and cookies.

(plural, plural, plural=parallel)

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MAKE ITEMS IN A SERIES PARALLEL

I remember the sweet chirping of the birds, the way the

squirrels ran up the trees, and how majestic the trees were.

(gerund, phrase/clause, clause)

I remember the sweet chirping of the birds, the lively

scampering of the squirrels up the trees, and the majestic

swaying of the trees.

(all gerunds=parallel)

I remember how the birds chirped sweetly, how the squirrels

scampered playfully, and how the trees swayed

majestically.

(all clauses=parallel)

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HOW TO CREATE PARALLELISM?

Let us try.

REPEAT CONNECTING ARTICLES (a, an, the) OR USE JUST ONE AT THE BEGINNING OF

THE SERIES.

• She bought a skirt, shoes, and a bracelet.

• She bought a skirt, a pair of shoes, and abracelet.

• I ordered the onion soup, fried chicken, and achocolate sundae.

• I ordered the onion soup, fried chicken, andchocolate sundae.

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HOW TO CREATE PARALELLISM?

• REPEAT PREPOSITIONS or

USE ONE PREP TO GOVERN THE WHOLE SERIES

• Sam said that his success came from honesty, from hard work, and by having a positive attitude.

• Sam said that his success came from honesty, hard work, and optimism. OR

• Sam said that his success came from honesty, fromhard work, and from optimism.

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WHEN MAKING COMPARISONS, THE THINGS YOU COMPARE SHOULD BE WRITTEN IN PARALLEL FORM

My income is smaller than my wife.

My income is smaller than my wife’s. (income)

Shakespeare contrasts the hot-headedness of Tybalt with Romeo.

Shakespeare contrasts the hot-headedness of Tybalt to the sensitivity of Romeo.

HOW TO CREATE PARALELLISM?

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FAULTY PARALELLISM?

When related ideas or sentence parts are NOT expressed in

parallel structure, that is called FAULTY PARALLELISM.

• I pretended to have an itch on my ankle or that

my sock had slipped.

• Hank doesn’t like baseball or getting tackled.

• Jan likes taking hikes and to play tennis.

• The dog ran across the yard, jumped over the

fence, and down the ally.

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For now, see if you can spot and correct faulty parallelism.

1. In English class we are learning to read poems critically and we appreciate good stories.

2. Ralph’s IQ is higher than his brother.

3. Coach Dix is a sly strategist, a caring mentor, and friend.

4. Mr. Smith keeps his store neat, well stocked, and everything is clean.

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PARALLELISM CONTINUED

How would you improve this sentence?

Parallelism also means using similar kinds of words when listing words in a pattern. If you

are listing items in a series, they should all be the same type of word or phrase. For

consistency, make sure all of the pieces in your succession are singular nouns, plural nouns,

verbs of the same tense, adjectives, etc.

Does this look right?"Ryan is friendly, smart, and a good

athlete."

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INCORRECT"Ryan is friendly, smart, and a good

athlete.”

CORRECT"Ryan is friendly, smart, and

athletic."

Changing a good athlete to athletic

makes it an adjective. Now it matches the other descriptions of Ryan.

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Try this one:"When I grow up, I want to be a teacher,

a policeman, or work at a store as a

cashier."

CORRECT SENTENCE:"When I grow up, I want to be a teacher,

a policeman, or a cashier."

The part about working at a store must be a noun to match the previous two nouns (teacher and policeman).

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Here is a tricky one:"A pediatrician is a children's

doctor, and a foot doctor is a

podiatrist."

Did you write this?"A pediatrician is a children's

doctor, and a podiatrist is a foot

doctor."

The kind of doctor is followed by an explanation of the doctor's specialty, not vice versa.

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Try this one:"My favorite fruits are the

banana, apples, and grapes."

CORRECT:"My favorite fruits are bananas,

apples, and grapes."

You must make banana plural for it to match

the other fruits.

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One more example of lack of parallelism..."Writing a book takes

dedication and being

creative."

You must change being creativeto creativity.

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MORE ON PARALLELISM

When you write a sentence, two or

more parts of the sentence that do the

same thing should have structures that

match. Their structures should be

parallel.

This applies most clearly when you

use more than one verb in the

sentence, but it applies also to clauses

and other words that perform similar

functions.

Let's have a look at some examples.

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Parallelism Errors in Verbs

Incorrect: I like to play, to

sing, and drawing.

Correct: I like to play, to

sing, and to draw.

You could leave out the "to" in the

second and third verbs, because the

first "to" would cover them all. But

as you see, you could not say "I like

to can draw."

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Parallelism Errors in Verbs

Can you see the parallelism

error in the following

sentence?

He is good at skating

and to play baseball.

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Other Parallelism Errors: Either/Or

Incorrect: We must either

raise more money or it

will be necessary to cut

expenses.

Correct: We must either

raise more money or cut

expenses.

Phrases connected by "either/or"

(or "neither/nor") must be parallel in

structure.

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Other Parallelism Errors: Incorrect Prepositions

Some parallelism errors arise when words

take different prepositions, even if the words

perform the same function.

Incorrect: She is interested and

excited about the film.

Correct: She is interested in and

excited about the film.

"Interested" and "excited" are similar

adjectives, but take different prepositions.

You can say "excited about" but not

"interested about."

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LET US TRY

Directions: Choose the sentence that

has no errors in structure.

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EXAMPLE

A. Eileen bought new shoes for the party,

a gold charm for her mother, and to

treat her best friend Maria to lunch.

B. Eileen decided to buy new shoes for

the party, purchasing a gold charm for

her mother, and treating her best

friend Maria to lunch.

C. Eileen purchased new shoes for the

party, a gold charm for her mother,

and lunch for Maria, her best friend.

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ITEM 1

A. Barking dogs, kittens that were

meowing, and squawking

parakeets greet the pet shop

visitors.

B. Barking dogs, meowing kittens,

and squawking parakeets greet

the pet shop visitors.

C. Dogs that bark, kittens that

meow, and parakeets squawking

greet the pet shop visitors.

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ITEM 1

A. Barking dogs, kittens that were

meowing, and squawking

parakeets greet the pet shop

visitors.

B. Barking dogs, meowing kittens,

and squawking parakeets greet

the pet shop visitors.

C. Dogs that bark, kittens that

meow, and parakeets squawking

greet the pet shop visitors.

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ITEM 2

A. During class, Adrian spent his time

flirting with Nicole, eating candy, and

doodling on the assignment sheet.

B. During class, Adrian spent his time

flirting with Nicole, he ate candy, and


C. During class, Adrian spent his time to

flirt with Nicole, to eat candy, and


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ITEM 2

A. During class, Adrian spent his time

flirting with Nicole, eating candy, and


B. During class, Adrian spent his time

flirting with Nicole, he ate candy, and


C. During class, Adrian spent his time to

flirt with Nicole, to eat candy, and


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ITEM 3

A. Alex looked everywhere for his math book—

under the bed, on his desk, and he searched

inside the refrigerator.

B. Alex looked everywhere for his math book—

viewing under the bed, searching on his

desk, and inside the refrigerator.

C. Alex looked everywhere for his math book—

under the bed, on his desk, and inside the

refrigerator.

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ITEM 3

A. Alex looked everywhere for his math book—

under the bed, on his desk, and he searched

inside the refrigerator.

B. Alex looked everywhere for his math book—

viewing under the bed, searching on his

desk, and inside the refrigerator.

C. Alex looked everywhere for his math book—

under the bed, on his desk, and inside the

refrigerator.

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ITEM 4

A. The manager wanted staff who arrived

on time, smiled at the customers, and

didn’t snack on the chicken nuggets.

B. The manager wanted staff who arrived

on time, would be smiling at the

customers, and would not be

snacking on the chicken nuggets.

C. The manager wanted staff who arrived


no snacking on the chicken nuggets.

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ITEM 4

A. The manager wanted staff who arrived


didn’t snack on the chicken nuggets.

B. The manager wanted staff who arrived

on time, would be smiling at the

customers, and would not be

snacking on the chicken nuggets.

C. The manager wanted staff who arrived


no snacking on the chicken nuggets.

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ITEM 5

A. After giving Jeremy her phone number, Felicia

had to tolerate his late night calls, stupid

conversations, and requests for her math

homework.

B. After giving Jeremy her phone number, Felicia

had to tolerate his late night calls, the fact that

he carried on stupid conversations, and

requests for her math homework.

C. After giving Jeremy her phone number, Felicia

had to tolerate being woken up late at night,

having stupid conversations, and he

constantly requested her math homework.

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ITEM 5

A. After giving Jeremy her phone number, Felicia

had to tolerate his late night calls, stupid

conversations, and constant requests for her

math homework.

B. After giving Jeremy her phone number, Felicia

had to tolerate his late night calls, the fact that

he carried on stupid conversations, and

requests for her math homework.

C. After giving Jeremy her phone number, Felicia

had to tolerate being woken up late at night,

having stupid conversations, and he

constantly requested her math homework.

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LET US PLAY

Directions: In the items that follow, choose the

correct word or phrase within the context

suggested by the sentence.

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ITEM 1

Pasta boiling in water, __________, and

garlic bread baking in the oven welcomed

Francisco as he opened the door.

A. simmered tomato sauce in the pan

B. tomato sauce simmering in the pan

C. tomato sauce that simmered in the pan

D. saucy tomatoes that were simmering

in the pan

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ITEM 1

Pasta boiling in water, __________, and

garlic bread baking in the oven welcomed

Francisco as he opened the door.

A. simmered tomato sauce in the pan

B. tomato sauce simmering in the pan

C. tomato sauce that simmered in the pan

D. saucy tomatoes that were simmering

in the pan

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ITEM 2

During our vacation in the Bahamas, we

hope __________, to enjoy beautiful

sunsets, and to dance ourselves dizzy at

reggae clubs.

A. that we eat delicious seafood

B. that eating delicious seafood occurs

C. to eat delicious seafood

D. eating delicious seafood

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ITEM 2

During our vacation in the Bahamas, we

hope __________, to enjoy beautiful

sunsets, and to dance ourselves dizzy at

reggae clubs.

A. that we eat delicious seafood

B. that eating delicious seafood occurs

C. to eat delicious seafood

D. eating delicious seafood

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ITEM 3

Karen wished Ray chewed with his

mouth closed, for otherwise he was

everything she wanted in a date; he

was tall, intelligent, and __________.

A.he looked good

B.being good looking

C.one handsome man to look at

D.handsome

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ITEM 3

Karen wished Ray chewed with his

mouth closed, for otherwise he was

everything she wanted in a date; he

was tall, intelligent, and __________.

A.he looked good

B.being good looking

C.one handsome man to look at

D.handsome

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ITEM 4

To win Laurie’s love, Albert visited the

florist for roses, the drugstore for a box

of chocolates, and __________.

A. bought an expensive gold necklace

at the jewelry store

B. the jeweler for an expensive gold

necklace

C. the jeweler where he bought an

expensive gold necklace

D. to buy an expensive gold necklace

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ITEM 4

To win Laurie’s love, Albert visited the

florist for roses, the drugstore for a box

of chocolates, and __________.

A. bought an expensive gold necklace

at the jewelry store

B. the jeweler for an expensive gold

necklace

C. the jeweler where he bought an

expensive gold necklace

D. to buy an expensive gold necklace

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ITEM 5

Kimberly won’t date Terry because

he is too short, too noisy, and

_________.

A.because he picks his teeth with

his fingers

B. too impolite

C. is the most impolite man she has

ever met

D.Picking his teeth with his fingers

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ITEM 5

Kimberly won’t date Terry because

he is too short, too noisy, and

_________.

A.because he picks his teeth with

his fingers

B. too impolite

C. is the most impolite man she has

ever met

D.Picking his teeth with his fingers

Education

Parallelisms in sentences