According to Webster’s (2002), one of the many definitions of “parallel” is “a balanced or coordinated arrangement of elements, especially of phrases and clauses” (p. 1030). This is the definition that applies to sentence structure, for when sentence elements are parallel, they are grammatically equal; and a balanced sentence not only reflects coordinated arrangement but also emphasizes the contrast or the similarity between items and ultimately contributes to overall unity and coherence within a written work.
Since faulty parallelism occurs when sentence elements are unequal, in order to achieve parallelism, writers must balance nouns with nouns, verbs with verbs, prepositional phrases with prepositional phrases, main clauses with main clauses, and so on.
Examples of Parallel Sentences
- Sue was beginning to feel unloved and immaterial. (Adjectives)
- Either Tom was going to get serious about his writing or Sue was going to leave him. (Clauses)
- Sue thought Tom valued things that were unimportant and failed to value things that were important. (Dependent clauses)
- The two things that mattered most to Tom were not Sue and writing but football and beer. (Nouns)
- Sue thought Tom should concentrate not on football but on his writing. (Prepositional phrases)
- Tom and Sue’s cat, Bonkers, liked to eat mice, to lie on the sofa, and to chew on extension cords. (Infinitive phrases)
- When Bonkers walked, he waddled. When he ran, he wobbled. (Sentences)
Examples of Faulty Parallelism
- There were two things Tom wanted most in life: to write a bestseller and watching football. (Infinitive “to write” and progressive verb “watching”)
- Correction: There were two things Tom wanted most in life: to write a bestseller and to watch football. (Two infinitives)
- Tom was encouraged and in a happy mood after he learned his latest short story had been accepted for publication. (Adjective and prepositional phrase)
- Correction: Tom was encouraged and happy after he learned that his latest short story had been accepted for publication. (Two adjectives)
- Whether well or when he was sick, Tom liked to watch football. (Adjective and clause)
- Correction: Whether well or sick, Tom liked to watch football. (Two adjectives)
- When Tom writes a bestseller, he plans to let Sue retire, to buy a football franchise, and sitting around and watching his team play all the time. (Two infinitive phrases and a verb phrase in the progressive tense)
- Correction One: When Tom writes a bestseller, he plans to let Sue retire, to buy a football franchise, and to sit around and watch his team play all the time.
- Correction Two: When Tom writes a bestseller, he plans to let Sue retire, buy a football franchise, and sit around and watch his team play all the time. (As long as “to” is used in the first infinitive in a series, one really does not need “to” in the others because it is implied).
By making an earnest effort to balance elements within sentences, writers not only demonstrate a thorough understanding of writing mechanics, they also increase their authorial voice and, as a result, instill their words with greater power to influence an audience.
Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language (2002) New York: Simon and Schuster. p. 1030
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