what is parallelism in writing

Kenneth Beare is an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher and course developer with over three decades of teaching experience. Parallelism Parallelism is a similarity of grammatical form for similar elements of meaning within a sentence or among sentences. Parallelism in Writing Sentences with Examples. Peter and Tim will probably arrive in less than an hour and in time for the meeting. Parallel writing is used to: Group, structure, and balance information of the same or similar type; Emphasize the meaning and likeness of information; Improve readability through structure, repetition, and rhythm; Although parallelism is just one aspect of writing, it can have remarkably positive effects on technical documentation, including design, content reuse, and translation. When closing an email to highlight the content. But what about parallelism? Let’s take a look at an example of parallelism done incorrectly, then break down what needs to happen for it to be fixed: Jackson hopes to visit his parents and see his old friends when he goes home. By convention, items in a series appear in parallel grammatical form: a noun is listed with other nouns, an -ing form with other -ing forms, and so on. Rules of parallelism are also described in the Microsoft writing style guide. Here’s a quick and simple definition:Some additional key details about parallelism: 1. And what does it have to offer? As I mentioned earlier, parallelism is a great way to talk about the relationship between ideas, but you still have to be clear about what you’re comparing! In English grammar, parallelism (also called parallel structure or parallel construction) is the repetition of the same grammatical form in two or more parts of a sentence. The following sentence does not have parallelism. For example: This is just a simple example. Apart from everyday speech, parallel structures are also apparent in various forms of literature, such as short stories, famous novels, and other narratives. Here is an overview of single word parallel structures: Parallelism can also take place with phrases. (at weekends in British English). Towson University Online Writing Center Here parallel sentence openings and participial clauses link examples: Writing is a rigorous activity. Purdue Online Writing Lab It requires you … To build a tree house, my dad purchased some nails, lots of wood, and rebar.Parallel Structure: 1. We highly encourage students to help each other out and respond to other students' comments if you can! That being said, parallelism can and should be used when you are trying to drive home a point. Since it was easy to use and because it was cheap, it sold very well. What is it? What Are Reduced Adverb Clauses and How Do They Work? NOTE: This is a rather complex structure. In this case, in less than an hour and in time expresses when something is going to happen. The repetitive nature of parallelism creates an enjoyable experience for readers which makes it easier to absorb and grasp the different concepts and ideas of the author. Check out these additional resources for diving into the specifics of parallelism: 1. By definition, items in a series should appear in parallel grammatical form. Parallel construction prevents awkwardness, promotes clarity and improves writing style and readability. Why this is icky: The verb tense is all off. Check out these examples of faulty parallel structure, from this worksheet. This stylistic element is also referred to as parallelism or parallel construction. Faulty Parallelism Written by Jerry Plotnick, University College Writing Centre. Thanks! Parallelism fosters reading comprehension because it enables readers to chunk information — elements of a sentence (e.g., words, phrase, sentence) — as coequal and related. As before, remember to look on either side of the conjunction or … NOTE: Make sure not to mix the infinitive (to do) and the gerund (doing) in parallel structures! Parallelism is a practice used by speakers or writers of structuring similar clauses, phrases, words, and sentences similarly in their prose or speech. Parallelism can be as simple as choosing grammatically similar elements when writing a list, as in \"First do X, second do Y, third do Z.\" 2. While the concept may sound tricky, it’s actually quite easy to execute… and makes your writing easy to read when done correctly! Having fun is as important as working hard. Examples. Magoosh blog comment policy: To create the best experience for our readers, we will only approve comments that are relevant to the article, general enough to be helpful to other students, concise, and well-written! 3. © 2020 Professional Writing. The class is not only fun but also helpful. 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