First, here is some general information on parallelism....

Parallelism is the really a matter of balance! Balancing a sentence can be compared to balancing scale if we pretend that certain words (and, or, but) are the balancing points and if we understand that the words are being balanced must carry the same weight in a sentence. UnbalancedI enjoy running and to bike on the beach. BalancedI enjoy running and biking on the beach. The unbalanced sentence divides two different parts of speech using “and.” An “ing” word is used before “and” while an infinitive, “to bike,” is used after. To make the sentence parallel or balanced use the same part of speech for both ideas.

Sometimes if feels awkward to attempt to balance the sentence! It is more than simply changing the ending of the verb – sometimes you need to actually add a verb! UnbalancedCollege students nearing graduation often study long hours, get limited sleep and up again with the sun. BalancedCollege students nearing graduation often study long hours, get limited sleep and are up again with the sun. This time the sentence is unbalanced because the first two phrases include verbs, “study” and “get,” but the last phrase doesn’t contain a verb. To be parallel, each phrase should follow the pattern of the first one in a series. This can be accomplished by simply adding a verb to the last phrase.

Parallelism Using Common Connectors: A slightly different parallelism involves the common connectors (either/or, neither/nor, not only/but also). The kinds of word or part of a sentence that follows the first connector must be the same as the kind following the second. The storm system was moving either east through Chandler or northeast through Scottsdale. The two prepositional phrases are parallel – they have the same structure so the sentence is balanced.

Parallelism Using Common Connectors: Another example! UnbalancedThe monsoon storm not only destroyed the shopping plaza but also the homes of the residents. BalancedThe monsoon storm destroyed not only the shopping plaza but also the homes of the residents. In this example, the verb “destroyed” cannot balance the noun “homes.” The sentence must be rewritten so that “destroyed” appears before “not only” and so nouns follow both connectors. The exercises that you are about to complete will further help you understand parallelism!

Once you are ready to complete the exercises go here : If this is your first time on this site, then underneath “New Student?” enter your address and click GO.

Please create a free account for this site... we will use it throughout the year! Once you have entered the info, click on register! If you have a hard time getting the site to accept your password, be sure you have letters and numbers in your password!

You want to click on the second choice – save your results to your scorecard only!

Once you finish 3.2, go to the drop down menu....

Then select Clarity 1-1 to 9.4!

Then click on 3-3 Parallelism!

Once you complete the second assessment, you can then click on “Scorecard.”

I must see all of this when you turn in! Needs your name and both assessments! Notice that it can take up to 15 minutes for the full scorecard to populate!

You can then log in and select Clarity: 1-1 to 9.4 You are then completing 3.2 and 3.3!

To submit your homework you have two options: 1.Print out your scorecard and turn in to me! 2.Take a screen shot of your scorecard, put it in a word document, then attach that word document and submit to turnitin.com “Grammar Exercise: Parallelism.” (Remember: I don’t care how many times you take the two assessments! I will take your highest score for each!) If you have questions or problems – please just me or ask in class!

Both Parallelism Activities (3.2 and 3.3) are Due Wednesday 9/18/13 in person or by 11:59pm to turnitin.com on 9/17/13.