Use parallel structure, or like grammatical form, to join and balance two or more coordinated elements. Writers employ parallelism to indicate logical equivalence, to supply emphasis, and to maintain coherence.

The rules concerning parallelism affect:

• Words:

  • The County Board of Supervisors declared the building unsightly, hazardous, and costly.
  • Neither the cat nor the dog liked the new vet.
  • A kiss can be a comma, a question mark, or an exclamation point. Mistinguett
• Phrases:
  • Low voter turnout prompted new absentee voting regulations and initiated voter registration campaigns.
  • I will either take the bus or take the train, but I will never again take the ferry.
  • The novel is not to be tossed lightly aside, but to be hurled with great force. Dorothy Parker
• Clauses:
  • We suspected that he worked late either because he wanted to get out of making dinner or because he wanted to avoid rush-hour traffic.
  • Not only do floods lower property values, they also increase insurance rates.
  • In matters of principle, stand like a rock; in matters of taste, swim with the current. Thomas Jefferson

Some common problem areas include:

• Mixing Verbals:

  • They like swimming and I like to sunbathe.

• Mixing Clauses and Phrases:

  • The automobile industry lost money because its salespeople badger customers, fewer car loans, and foreign competition increased dramatically.

• Unnecessary Shifting Subject:

  • You should never drink and drive; they kill people that way.

• Shifting Number/Person:

  • One should exercise caution at ATM's because you could get robbed there.

• Shifting Tense:

  • I washed the car and you wreck it.

• Deleting Grammatically or Idiomatically Important Words:

  • Athletes often exhibit a propensity [for] and an interest in breakdancing.

Updated: 08.18.07