Transcript Proofing to Assure Parallelism

Proofing to Assure Parallelism
Proofing to Assure Parallelism
A sentence with parallel—grammatically “matching”—words, phrases, and clauses
is easier to understand and has a better flow to it.
To achieve this parallelism, a careful writer makes sure that sentence elements have
the same grammatical structure and function.
Consider the following example:
On Sunday, we went to church, to the zoo, and ate dinner.
The verb phrase “ate dinner” after the prepositional phrases “to church” and “to
the zoo” changes the parallelism of the first two and produces an awkward flow to
the sentence.
Proofing to Assure Parallelism
On Sunday, we went to church, to the zoo, and to dinner.
The simple change “to dinner” brings logic, balance, order, and clarity to the
sentence.
Proofing to Assure Parallelism
The lack of parallelism is identified and corrected in the following sentences.
1. The power line is ugly, ineffective, and a danger in our community.
1. The power line is ugly, ineffective, and dangerous in our community.
The parallel adjectives “ugly,” “ineffective,” and “dangerous” are all similarly
linked to adverse effects in the community.
2. We are told to live our own lives and that we should not interfere with how
others live theirs.
2. We are told to live our own lives and not to interfere with how others live theirs.
The infinitive phrase (“to live our own lives”) and the that clause (“that we should
not interfere”) are mismatched; parallelism is achieved by substituting “not to
interfere.”
Proofing to Assure Parallelism
3. After a smack from her umbrella and while knocking the robber to the ground,
Aunt Millie enjoyed the cheers of the police.
3. After smacking the robber with an umbrella and knocking him to the ground,
Aunt Millie enjoyed the cheers of the police.
To assure parallelism and clarity, a careful writer must use the “-ing” forms of the
verbs smack and knock.
4. According to popular legend, a genetically modified spider bit a nerdy high
school student and this was the start of his career as Spiderman.
4. According to popular legend, a genetically modified spider bit a nerdy high
school student and turned him into Spiderman.
The parallel matching verbs “bit” and “turned” make the correct sentence less
wordy and more readable than the incorrect one.