The Power of Pattern in Parallel
- Eve Anthony Hanninen
- Jun 16, 2018
- 3 min read
"Stained Glass Pattern" -- WIX Stock Photo
Has an editor ever said to you, “Find a way to turn this sentence into a parallel construction.”? If so, did you know what she meant? What the heck is “parallel construction,” anyway? Isn’t that like wall studs placed every four feet apart, or something?
As writers, most of you probably try, instinctively, to balance the parts of speech in each sentence, likely because there’s an admonishing, 2nd- or 3rd-grade teacher in each of your subconscious minds. With all that stuff you all have to learn over the years, it’s not surprising that you may not recall what “parallel construction” is.
In order to make the structure parallel in your writing, there must be repetition of pattern of a chosen grammatical form, like when pairing parts of speech — such as with phrases and clauses of comparison, coordinating or correlative conjunctions, plural or singular nouns and pronouns, and verbs or adjectives within sentences or lists.
I’ll throw some examples at you. The first deals with structuring verb-tense conjugations (for further definitions of tense, see simple present, past, and future tenses, plus the perfect and the continuous tenses/aspects):
Ronald likes to go skiing, the arcade, and to take long walks on the shore.
Is the foregoing sentence a parallel construction? Nope. Why not? The verb forms are in different tenses and one is even nonexistent.
There are usually several ways to revise any sentence or list to give it parallel structure. Here are two ways you might revise poor Ronald’s personal ad:
Ronald likes skiing, hanging at the arcade, and taking long walks on the shore.
Ronald likes to ski, to hang at the arcade, and to take long walks on the shore.
Let’s look at another example, using a correlative conjunction (if, … then; either … or; neither … nor; not only … but also; etc.):
Her cat not only likes to play with a toy mouse, but also bat a fishing line.
Nope. Not parallel. How would you fix it? Here are some possible revisions:
Her cat not only likes to play with a toy mouse, but it also likes to bat a fishing line.
Her cat likes not only to play with a toy mouse, but also to bat a fishing line.
Here are a few tips for revising your sentences for parallel structure:
~First, take a look at what parts of each sentence are being compared.
~Then, decide whether they are arranged or constructed in the same way.
~If they are not, make them parallel by changing the grammatical construction to share the same function in each part. In other words, make sure the parts share the same tense, or use all adjectives or all verbs.
~If necessary, remove extraneous words from your construction until you can see how each part mirrors the other. Often, it’s word order that causes confusion, and when you revise the order, parallel structures become much clearer.
Your readers will thank you for it, too. Their brains are wired to pick up patterns, and faulty patterns will jangle most discordantly.
One of my own pet peeves, as an editor, is to read nonparallel adjectives that have been used to compare genders in a situation or in a field of work, for example.
Many occupations that once differentiated between male and female counterparts have created gender-neutral titles, such as flight attendant, actor, postal carrier, and nurse. When we writers sometimes find it necessary, in a description, to mention the gender of a character, we sometimes use a gendered adjective to modify a title. That’s fine, as long as the comparisons (implied or stated) being made are of parallel construction. Please use “male” flight attendant with “female” flight attendant. Please don’t use “women” writers with “male” writers. In fact, don’t use “women” as an adjective at all. It’s a plural noun. If you wouldn’t say, “men actors,” “men drivers,” “men nurses,” and “men pilots,” don’t say or write, “lady cops,” “women drivers,” “women writers,” or “lady carpenters.” “Male” and “female” suffice, if needed at all.
All right, enough of my grouching.
Want to learn more about parallel construction? Visit “Grammar Girl” Mignon Fogarty’s Quick and Dirty Tips site to read about, or even to listen to, her points of view concerning the pleasure in making patterns in parallel constructions.
Grammar Girl also reads Lester and Kaufman on parallel structure.
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