Parallelism: Correlative Pairs Writing Lab Parallelism: Correlative Pairs

Parallelism: Correlative Pairs Items in a series should be balanced or coordinated; that is, to indicate the same rank and role of items in a series or to indicate equality of these ideas, writers of standard written English must employ parallel grammatical constructions. In order to ensure that these are grammatically similar, the writer conveys his or her message in parallel language. Some writers make a construction appear to be parallel when actually it is not by incorrectly mixing the parts of correlative pairs.

Frequently Used Correlative Conjunctions Both… and Either… or Just as… so Neither… nor Not only… but also Whether… or

Correlative pair is neither… nor. Incorrect: I readily admitted that I had neither interest or need for this seminar Correct: I readily admitted that I had neither interest nor need for this seminar.

Correlative pair is not only… but also. Incorrect: The Beatles were talented not only as performers but as composers. Correct: The Beatles were talented not only as composers but also as composers.

That’s all, folks! This lesson is part of the UWF Writing Lab Grammar Mini-Lesson Series Lessons adapted from Real Good Grammar, Too by Mamie Webb Hixon To find out more, visit the Writing Lab’s website where you can take a self-scoring quiz corresponding to this lesson