What “Sounds” Better?

1. )Yesterday evening, Jenny and I went skiing, to run, and swam. OR 2 1.)Yesterday evening, Jenny and I went skiing, to run, and swam. OR 2.)Yesterday evening, Jenny and I went skiing, running, and swimming.

1. ) Nobody can tell him what to do, how to act, and when to eat. OR 2 1.) Nobody can tell him what to do, how to act, and when to eat. OR 2.) Nobody can tell him what he could do, how he should act, and when he could eat.

1.)Hector was a runner, smart, kind, funny, loved to sing, a painter, and went fishing a lot. OR 2.)Hector was a runner, painter, singer and fisher; he was smart, kind, and funny, too.

From the outsiders…

Dally had spent three years on the wild side of New York and had been arrested at the age of ten. He was tougher than the rest of us—tougher, colder, meaner. (p.10)

If I brought home B’s, he wanted A’s, and if I got A’s, he wanted to make sure they stayed A’s. If I was playing football, I should be in studying, and if I was reading, I should be out playing football. (p. 13)

Parallelism

The use of similar words, phrases, clauses, sentences and/or ideas Definition: The use of similar words, phrases, clauses, sentences and/or ideas

The Basics Can be using similar word forms, too (like all –ing verbs, all prepositional phrases, all nouns, etc.) Used to emphasize relationships between similar things, especially for paired items, listed items, and comparisons Is NOT just repeating the same word

Example: I like to run, to jump, and to skip Example: I like to run, to jump, and to skip. Listing infinitives (to + verb) Non-Example: I like running, to jump, and skipping. Listing –ing, infinitive, -ing

Example: He is smart, caring, and funny Example: He is smart, caring, and funny. Listing all adjectives Non-Example: He is smart, a runner, and funny. Listing adjective, noun, and adjective

Example: When she was good, she was very good Example: When she was good, she was very good. When she was bad, she was horrid. Similar sentence structure, subordinate clauses set up the same way

Non-Example: When she was good, she was very good Non-Example: When she was good, she was very good. Otherwise, she was horrid. Different sentence structures, different introductions