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PARALLELISM. Proofing to Assure Parallelism. Consider the following example:. On Sunday, we went to church, to the zoo, and ate dinner.
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Proofing to Assure Parallelism 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. A sentence with parallel—grammatically “matching”—words, phrases, and clauses is easier to understand and has a better flow to it. Proofing to Assure Parallelism To achieve this parallelism, a careful writer makes sure that sentence elements have the same grammatical structure and function.
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 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 not to interfere with how others live theirs. The infinitive phrase (“to live our own lives”) and the thatclause (“that we should not interfere”) are mismatched; parallelism is achieved by substituting “not to interfere.” 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. 2. We are told to live our own lives and that we should not interfere with how others live theirs.
Proofing to Assure Parallelism 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 smackand knock. 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. 3. After a smack from her umbrella and while knocking the robber to the ground, Aunt Millie enjoyed the cheers of the police. 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.