English grammar can be very confusing. Many of the grammar rules can be difficult to the grasp and even when you do, there are going to be innumerable exceptions to these rules. Even so, it is still very important to have good grammar, because you want to demand the respect of your peers and you want your message to be expressed as clearly and succinctly as possible.
Some issues with parallelism may seem simple enough, but there are still instances where parallel structure can be challenging to understand. Much like the split infinitive controversy, some people will say that the whole idea of parallel structure is still largely a matter of personal writing style. That may or may not be true, and I”ll leave that up to you to decide.
Parallel structure describes when you list three or more items in a sentence. When you do so, it is important these items all “match” with one another. Perhaps the best way to illustrate this is through a series of examples.
Incorrect: I enjoy tennis, basketball, and going for a swim.
Correct: I enjoy tennis, basketball, and swimming.
Here, we have a list of sports (which are nouns). The first sentence is incorrect, because the last item in the list does not match the structure of the preceding two items. This is corrected by switching “going for a swim” with a noun version with the same meaning: swimming.
Incorrect: John was fired because he was late for work, he slacked off while there, and lack of respect.
Correct: John was fired because he was late for work, he slacked off while there, and he disrespected his supervisor.
Each of the items in the list here takes on the form of “he (verb) (more detail),” and the last item in the incorrect example does not follow this form. An alternate way to fix this would be to change the last item to “he had a lack of respect” or something similar.
Whether you’re writing a blog post, an academic essay, or a business proposition, be mindful of how you handle lists. It’s important to maintain parallel structure to the best of your ability, because this can improve clarity and give better “flow” to your writing. Part of this will come from practice, but when in doubt, don’t be afraid to ask for a second opinion for a friend or a colleague.
Do you have a suggestion for a future Grammar 101 topic? Let me know via Twitter or through the comment form below.
nice . sure this will help me a lot .
i wonder which one are correct :
1.he was fired because of always coming late to work
2. he was fired because of always came late to work
i remembered my english tutor ever said to me that present tense is use for FACT..
oh ya one more question :
1.kwan don’t like blogging , either do i
or
2. kwan don’t like blogging , neither do i
1. He was fired because of always coming late for work. Or… He was fired because he always came late for work.
2. Kwan doesn’t like blogging and neither do I.
OMG… my grammer worst than i though…
if i can ask you more , what the different between for and to. both of them looked the same for me
For that sentence, I think using “to” is still correct, but “for” just sounds better to me.
thanks a lot my friend . honestly i have a lot questions in my mind . i will ask it next time you post about grammar.
I can see some great instances of this in real world writing. I have seen the first example in a newspaper before. Something good to think about while trying to construct my posts for the blog.
I will start posting on the blog regularly starting this week since school has started. Also, it seems that as the students and teachers come back my blog traffic increases, in which I can see the correlation between school and reading about school.
Good post. I always try to keep this in mind. I sometimes break the rules, though.
But, sometimes it is for effect. Yeah, that’s the ticket…
I just thought of one you could do: Sale vs. Sell.
Hang out in any marketing forum, and you’ll see people write stuff like, “Where can I sale my stuff?”
It’s like nails across a chalkboard…