Grammar and Composition

1. How to Edit Faulty
Parallelism in
Your Writing
Prepared by. Melania A. Florendo

2. .
What’s the problem?
1. I like apples, oranges, and going to the zoo.
2. The coach advised that I should eat
healthily, exercise regularly, and that joining a
gym would make this easier.
3. Mary is a celebrated author, dancer, and
writes great songs.

3. .
What’s the problem?
1. I like apples, oranges, and going to the zoo.
2. The coach advised that I should eat
healthily, exercise regularly, and that joining a
gym would make this easier.
3. Mary is a celebrated author, dancer, and
writes great songs.

4. How do we fix this problem?
There are three ways to fix a parallel structure
problem. In each case, the idea is to make all the parts
match in grammatical form.
A. Method #1: Make the grammatically
nonconforming part match the other parts.
B. Method #2: Make the other parts match the
grammatically nonparallel part.
C. Method #3: SPLIT the sentence.

5. METHOD #1
NON PARALLEL STRUCTURE CORRECT PARALLEL STRUCTURE
I like apples, oranges, and going
to the zoo.
I like apples, oranges, and zoos.
The coach advised that I
should eat healthily, exercise re
gularly, and that joining a gym
would make this easier.
The coach advised that
I should eat healthily, exercise re
gularly, and join a gym
Mary is a
celebrated author, dancer, and
writes great songs.
Mary is a
celebrated author, dancer, and s
ongwriter.

6. Method #2: Make the other parts match the grammatically nonparallel part.
NON PARALLEL STRUCTURE CORRECT PARALLEL STRUCTURE
I like apples, oranges, and going to the
zoo.
I like eating apples, eating oranges, and
going to the zoo (“eating” is
repetitive).
The coach advised that I
should eat healthily, exercise regularly
, and that joining a gym would make
this easier.
The
coach recommended exercising regular
ly, eating healthily, and joining a gym.
Mary is a
celebrated author, dancer, and writes
great songs.
Mary is
celebrated because she writes books, d
ances, and writes great songs.

7. Method #3: SPLIT the sentence
.
NON PARALLEL STRUCTURE CORRECT PARALLEL STRUCTURE
I like apples, oranges, and going
to the zoo.
I like eating apples and oranges. I also
like going to the zoo.
The coach advised that I
should eat healthily, exercise regul
-arly, and that joining a gym would
make this easier.
The coach advised that I
should eat healthily and exercise regula
rly. He also told me that joining a gym
would make working out easier.
Mary is a
celebrated author, dancer, and wri
tes great songs.
Mary is a
celebrated author and dancer. She also
writes great songs.

8. Watch out for tricky comparative phrases
There are some tricky constructions that
often plague many writers: parallelism in
modifying clauses
(e.g., relative clauses, and participial clauses)
and comparative phrases (e.g., correlative
conjunctions).

9. a. Relative clauses use “that” or “which.”
b. Participial clauses are phrases that are
made from verbs and are used like adjectives.
for example, “This car is built to last.”
c. Correlative conjunctions include terms like “not
only…but also,” “either…or,” “neither…nor,”
“if…then,” etc.
d. Comparison structures include the typical
“than” or “as.”

10. When correcting these kinds of statements, treat the comparative phrases or the second half of the
correlative conjunction like equal signs and ask yourself: “Do I have the same grammar structure on both
sides?”
NON PARALLEL STRUCTURE CORRECT PARALLEL STRUCTURE
I like the big house built in 1910 and features two great
living rooms.
I like the big house built in 1910 that features two great living
rooms.
Mary owns a PR company, a place giving many growth
opportunities and where people are rewarded based on
merit (participial phrase + subordinate clause).
Mary owns a PR company, a place giving many growth
opportunities where people are rewarded based on merit.
I not only like to play the violin, but also dancing. I not only like to play the violin, but I also like to dance.
OR
I like to not only play the violin but also dance.
Either we go to the store now or wait until next week. Either we go to the store now or we wait until next week.
I prefer to go on a vacation than a bonus. I prefer to go on a vacation than to receive a bonus.

11. Parallelism Checklist
1. Identify any conjunctions or lists in your sentence.
2. Look at the structure of your words and phrases
on either side of those conjunctions.
3. Look at the clauses you have in a sentence.
4. Are your verbs in the same tense on both sides of
a conjunction and within your modifying clauses?
5. If you have a list, does each part of the list
(A, B, C, etc.) have the same grammatical form?

12. Thank you for listening