Transcript parallel structure

PARALLEL
STRUCTURES
Adding Rhythm To Your
Writing
The Twilight Zone
There is a fifth dimension beyond
that which is known to man. It is
a dimension as vast as space and
as timeless as infinity. It is the
middle ground between light and
shadow, between science and
superstition, and it lies between
the pit of man’s fears, and the
summit of his knowledge. This is
the dimension of imagination. It
is an area which we call ... THE
TWILIGHT ZONE.
(Zicree 1989, 31)
Star Trek
Space:
The final frontier
These are the voyages of
the Starship, Enterprise
Its 5 year mission
To explore strange new
worlds
To seek out new life and new
civilizations
To boldly go where no man
Parallelism
 Parallelism
is creating
grammatical rhythms
with a number of word
and sentence devices.
 These parallel
structures give prose a
musical quality that
adds emphasis and
sound to central
images.
Literal Repetition
Using the parallel structure of
literal repetition, writers repeat
the exact same words to create an
echo or a trancelike refrain.
In a piece on victory, Kristen Parker
writes,
They march off victoriously, or
so they say. They die so
victoriously, or so they think.
But how victorious is it to bid
good-bye to the sentiments they
once knew.
Grammatical Repetition
 Grammatical
repetition is
the most common
repetition used by
writers.
 Grammatical
repetition
repeats identical
grammatical structures,
but with different words.
Grammatical Repetition
Examples of this style can be seen
in this passage from Abraham
Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address:
But, in a larger sense, we can
not dedicate — we can not
consecrate — we can not
hallow — this ground. The
brave men, living and dead,
who struggled here, have
consecrated it, far above our
poor power to add or detract.
The world will little note, nor
long remember, what we say
here, but it can never forget
what they did here.
Rhythmic Categories
Three Categories:
1) Structures
connected with
conjunctions
2) Structures created
with repeated
phrases
3) Structures created
with repeated
clauses
The Imaginary Zone
Each group is to create an
imaginary zone, filling in the
blanks to create a parody. You
can select a subject from school
(math class, history class, lunch,
a dance, a sport) or from an
outside interest (MTV, sports
figures, actors/actresses,
novelists, political personalities).
Below, a group of eight-grade
students collaborated to
demonstrate how this assignment
might be written about math:
The Math Zone
There is a fifth dimension
beyond that which is known to
man. It is a dimension as acute as
one degree and as obtuse as 179
degrees. It is the vast plane
between simple addition and
advanced calculus, between
infinity and probability, and it lies
between the teacher’s daily cup of
hot coffee and the student’s daily
pile of homework problems. This
is the dimension of chalkboard
scribbles. It is an area which we
call the Math Zone.
The __________ Zone
There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is
known to man. It is a dimension as
_________________ as ______________ and as
_________________ as _______________. It is the
__________________ ____________________
between _________________ and ________________,
between ______________ and _________________,
and it lies between the ________________ of
_______________ _______________, and the
__________________ of his/her
__________________. This is the dimension of
__________________. It is an area which we call ...
THE __________________ ZONE.
“I Have A Dream”
Delivered 28 August
1963, at the Lincoln
Memorial,
Washington D.C. by
Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr.
http://www.americanrheto
ric.com/speeches/Ihave
adream.htm