Parallelism © 2016 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

What is parallelism? Parallelism means that similar parts of a sentence have the same structure: nouns are with nouns, verbs with verbs, and phrases with phrases. NOT PARALLEL: I like singing, kayaking, and to dance. PARALLEL: I like singing, kayaking, and dancing. © 2016 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

Make sure to use parallelism in the following cases: When joining two or more items with and or or: The party featured a four-foot cake and a singing gorilla. In comparisons: Taking the train is as fast as driving. With certain paired words (like both/and, either/or, and neither/nor): Marlize both bakes bread and fixes cars. © 2016 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

Make the following sentence parallel: Ella’s job responsibilities include to hire, training, and informing workers of company policies. © 2016 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

Answer: Ella’s job responsibilities include hiring, training, and informing workers of company policies. © 2016 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

Make the following sentence parallel: (continued 1) Henry likes pizza more than eating spinach. © 2016 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

Answer: (continued 1) Henry likes pizza more than spinach. © 2016 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

Make the following sentence parallel: (continued 2) I think that learning a new language is harder than math. © 2016 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

Answer: (continued 2) I think that learning a new language is harder than learning math. © 2016 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

Make the following sentence parallel: (continued 3) The film had many stars, used various special effects, and it was violent. © 2016 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

Answer: (continued 3) The film had many stars, used various special effects, and featured violence. © 2016 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

Make the following sentence parallel: (continued 4) I’d rather be lucky or hardworking than to have talent. © 2016 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

Answer: (continued 4) I’d rather be lucky or hardworking than talented. © 2016 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

Make the following sentence parallel: (continued 5) That football team has both a good offense and it has a good defense. © 2016 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

Answer: (continued 5) That football team has both a good offense and a good defense. © 2016 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

Editing for Parallelism © 2016 by Bedford/St. Martin’s