12/8 - 12/10 Parallel Structure

Today students watched this video in class that will help them understand parallel structure.

I then had them look at the rules that they should follow when trying to identify if a sentence has parallel structure or nonparallel structure.

They then worked collaboratively, with a partner, to correct the sentences on a worksheet that I gave them.

Here are the rules:

For Finding and Fixing Errors in Parallel Structure

Understand the problem.

For a list of actions or items, you must maintain parallel structure. To do this, use equal grammatical units. If the first item is a noun, then the following items must also be nouns; if the first item is a verb, then make the other items verbs as well.

Nonparallel structure looks like this:

At the garden store, Larissa bought  ,  , and .

At the garden store, Larissa bought plastic pink flamingos, ceramic gnomes, and then she impulsively added a concrete mermaid to her cart.

Parallel structure, the correct way to write, looks like this:

At the garden store, Larissa bought  ,  , and .

At the garden store, Larissa  ,  , and .

At the garden store, Larissa bought plastic pink flamingos, ceramic gnomes, and a concrete mermaid.

At the garden store, Larissa bought plastic pink flamingos, rescued ceramic gnomes from the sale bin, and impulsively added a concrete mermaid to her cart.

Know the solution.

Once you discover a nonparallel item, you have two options. First, you can make it conform to the other grammatical items in the sentence. Look at this example:

We spent the hour in the waiting room reading old magazines, eating stale cookies from the vending machine, and we wiggled on the hard plastic chairs.

Reading old magazines and eating stale cookies are participle phrases; we wiggled ..., however, is a main clause. If we fix the nonparallel item, the sentence looks like this:

We spent the hour in the waiting room reading old magazines, eating stale cookies from the vending machine, and wiggling on the hard plastic chairs.

Or we can alter the first two items and have this version instead:

In the waiting room, we read old magazines, ate stale cookies from the vending machine, and wiggled on the hard plastic chairs.

Recognize these special cases.

Not only ... but also, either ... or, and neither ... nor all require special attention when you are proofreading for parallelism. These correlative conjunctions require equal grammatical units after both parts of the conjunction. You can have two main clauses like this:

Not only did Jerome buy flowers for his mother, but he also purchased a bouquet for Yolanda, his wife.

For a shorter sentence, use two prepositional phrases:

Jerome bought flowers not only for his mother but also for Yolanda, his wife.

Or you can have two nouns as this version does:

Jerome bought flowers for not only his mother but also Yolanda, his wife.

Here is the worksheet:

Name Date
Parallel Structure – Exercise 1

Directions: Determine whether the sentences below contain errors in parallel structure. Fix any
problems that you find.

1. Monica brewed espresso, steamed milk, and told jokes as she prepared Mike’s latte.

2. Natasha tried holding her breath, chewing a piece of gum, and poking her belly, but she could not quiet her empty stomach, which rumbled during the chemistry exam.

3. In the restroom, Tishena was brushing her hair, freshened her lip-gloss, and took deep breaths, trying to work up the courage to walk to her first speech class.

4. Celine looked behind the toilet, in the laundry basket, and checked under the bed, but she could not find Squeeze, her nine-foot albino python.

5. Not only did Dennis apply an extra layer of deodorant to his armpits, but he also polished each tooth with special care. He did not want to offend Malinda with any unpleasant odors.

6. For his first date with Malinda, Dennis bought not only a dozen roses but he also purchased a box of chocolates.

7. Not only did Malinda squeal at the sight of the beautiful bouquet, but she also was tearing open the box and eating chocolates all the way to the restaurant.

8. Dennis tried to be thoughtful and generous, yet Malinda refused to give him not only a kiss good night but also a single chocolate from the nut and caramel sampler.

9. Chelsea had to paddle past a school of jellyfish, kick a small sand shark in the nose, and untangle seaweed from her surfboard before she reached her favorite point break.

10. Spiders that bite, hissing snakes, and squealing rodents fill the aquariums in Desmond’s basement.

11. Class with Dr. Rogers was a nightmare: the clock seemed stuck in place, the air conditioner blew inadequate cool, and a fluorescent bulb buzzed overhead.

12. Ernie is too noisy as a seatmate. Crunching on apple slices, slurping hot coffee, and the rings of his notebook snapped open and shut all contribute to the cacophony.

13. Neither the scowls from her neighbors nor the disapproval of her husband will deter Larissa from painting her house hot pink with orange and white trim.

14. Larissa will either add a flock of plastic pink flamingos, or she will purchase a family of ceramic gnomes for the front lawn.

15. Until the Weavers arrived home at 5 p.m., the clock ticked, the refrigerator hummed, and the dog snoring in the otherwise quiet house.

16. Jessica has found that neither background music nor potato chips make writing her research essay any easier.

17. Mark looked under the bed, in the hamper, and he even searched his brother’s closet, but he could not find his favorite University of Florida T-shirt.

18. After you eat tuna salad from the campus cafeteria, not only will your stomach rumble, but you will also sneeze for hours from the generous addition of MSG.

19. Natalia blinked her eyes, she wiped her glasses, and then squinted at the screen, but she could not decipher the small text crammed onto the presentation slide.

20. Neither the unhappy man with the cold soup nor the irate woman with an empty glass of iced tea could get Gloria’s attention, for this waitress was too busy flirting with Jose.

©1997 - 2014 by Robin L. Simmons

All Rights Reserved.

On 12/10 we exchanged papers and corrected them.