{"id":8321,"date":"2013-10-29T20:12:39","date_gmt":"2013-10-29T20:12:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/?page_id=8321"},"modified":"2026-03-28T11:41:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T16:41:17","slug":"parallel-construction","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/parallel-construction\/","title":{"rendered":"Parallel Sentence Construction"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t<div id=\"mmDeferVideoEncompass_NSaGHoKBcfc\" style=\"position: relative;\">\n\t\t\t<picture>\n\t\t\t\t<source srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/circle-play-duotone.webp\" type=\"image\/webp\">\n\t\t\t\t<source srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/circle-play-duotone.png\" type=\"image\/jpeg\"> \n\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"eager\" id=\"videoThumbnailImage_NSaGHoKBcfc\" data-source-videoID=\"NSaGHoKBcfc\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/circle-play-duotone.png\" alt=\"Parallel Sentence Construction Video\" height=\"464\" width=\"825\" class=\"size-full\" data-matomo-title = \"Parallel Sentence Construction\">\n\t\t\t<\/picture>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<style>img#videoThumbnailImage_NSaGHoKBcfc:hover {cursor:pointer;} img#videoThumbnailImage_NSaGHoKBcfc {background-size:contain;background-image:url(\"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/updated-parallel-sentence-construction-64beaa8f031a7.webp\");}<\/style>\n\t\t\t<script defer>\n\t\t\t  jQuery(\"img#videoThumbnailImage_NSaGHoKBcfc\").click(function() {\n\t\t\t\tlet videoId = jQuery(this).attr(\"data-source-videoID\");\n\t\t\t\tlet helpTag = '<div id=\"mmDeferVideoYTMessage_NSaGHoKBcfc\" style=\"display: none;position: absolute;top: -24px;width: 100%;text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-style: italic;font-size: small;border-top: 1px solid #fc0;\">Having trouble? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v='+videoId+'\" target=\"_blank\">Click here to watch on YouTube.<\/a><\/span><\/div>';\n\t\t\t\tlet tag = document.createElement(\"iframe\");\n\t\t\t\ttag.id = \"yt\" + videoId;\n\t\t\t\ttag.src = \"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/\" + videoId + \"?autoplay=1&controls=1&wmode=opaque&rel=0&egm=0&iv_load_policy=3&hd=0&enablejsapi=1\";\n\t\t\t\ttag.frameborder = 0;\n\t\t\t\ttag.allow = \"autoplay; fullscreen\";\n\t\t\t\ttag.width = this.width;\n\t\t\t\ttag.height = this.height;\n\t\t\t\ttag.setAttribute(\"data-matomo-title\",\"Parallel Sentence Construction\");\n\t\t\t\tjQuery(\"div#mmDeferVideoEncompass_NSaGHoKBcfc\").html(tag);\n\t\t\t\tjQuery(\"div#mmDeferVideoEncompass_NSaGHoKBcfc\").prepend(helpTag);\n\t\t\t\tsetTimeout(function(){jQuery(\"div#mmDeferVideoYTMessage_NSaGHoKBcfc\").css(\"display\", \"block\");}, 2000);\n\t\t\t  });\n\t\t\t  \n\t\t\t<\/script>\n\t\t\n<p><script>\nfunction JCx_Function() {\n  var x = document.getElementById(\"JCx\");\n  if (x.style.display === \"none\") {\n    x.style.display = \"block\";\n  } else {\n    x.style.display = \"none\";\n  }\n}\n<\/script><\/p>\n<div class=\"moc-toc hide-on-desktop hide-on-tablet\">\n<div><button onclick=\"JCx_Function()\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/toc2.svg\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" alt=\"show or hide table of contents\"><\/button><\/p>\n<p>On this page<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<nav id=\"JCx\" style=\"display:none;\">\n<ul>\n<li class=\"toc-h2\"><a href=\"#Parallelism\" class=\"smooth-scroll\">Parallelism<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"toc-h2\"><a href=\"#Parallel_Sentence_Structure_Examples\" class=\"smooth-scroll\">Parallel Sentence Structure Examples<\/a>\n<ul><\/li>\n<li class=\"toc-h3\"><a href=\"#Example_1\" class=\"smooth-scroll\">Example #1<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"toc-h3\"><a href=\"#Example_2\" class=\"smooth-scroll\">Example #2<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"toc-h3\"><a href=\"#Example_3\" class=\"smooth-scroll\">Example #3<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/nav>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"accordion\"><input id=\"transcript\" type=\"checkbox\" class=\"spoiler_button\" \/><label for=\"transcript\">Transcript<\/label>\n<div class=\"spoiler\" id=\"transcript-spoiler\">\n<p>Hello, and welcome to this Mometrix lesson on graphing parallel lin-Oh, no! That\u2019s the wrong video, we\u2019re here today to talk about writing parallel sentences, that\u2019s right!<\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"Parallelism\" class=\"m-toc-anchor\"><\/span>Parallelism<\/h2>\n<p>\nParallel sentence construction occurs when a grammatical structure is repeated throughout the sentence. This is officially called parallelism. Use this when comparing two or more things in your sentence, whether it be infinitives, with <a class=\"ylist\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/coordinating-and-correlative-conjunctions\/\">conjunctions<\/a>, or mere present tense activities.<\/p>\n<p>Including parallelism in your writing adds balance and evenly distributes the natural weight of the sentence throughout rather than building it up in one area. It also eases the reading of the sentence by providing <a class=\"ylist\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/evocative-words-and-rhythm\/\">rhythm<\/a> and overall structure to the sentence.<\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"Parallel_Sentence_Structure_Examples\" class=\"m-toc-anchor\"><\/span>Parallel Sentence Structure Examples<\/h2>\n<p>\nWhy don\u2019t we take a look at some examples:<\/p>\n<h3><span id=\"Example_1\" class=\"m-toc-anchor\"><\/span>Example #1<\/h3>\n<div class=\"transcriptcallout\">Mary enjoys walking, hiking, and to boulder.<\/div>\n<p>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\nIn this example, walking, hiking, and to boulder are being compared. Because these items are being compared in the sentence, there must be consistency in their grammatical structure. It\u2019s clear to see that without this grammatical consistency, the sentence sounds very awkward.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s look at the sentence when parallelism is added:<\/p>\n<div class=\"transcriptcallout\">Mary enjoys walk<strong>ing<\/strong>, hik<strong>ing<\/strong>, and boulder<strong>ing<\/strong>.<\/div>\n<p>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\nHere, walking, hiking, and bouldering are expressing parallelism because they are all in the same grammatical structure.<\/p>\n<h3><span id=\"Example_2\" class=\"m-toc-anchor\"><\/span>Example #2<\/h3>\n<p>\nHere\u2019s the next example:<\/p>\n<div class=\"transcriptcallout\">She likes to walk, hikes, and climbing.<\/div>\n<p>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\nAgain, we have three things being compared without parallelism, and it seems to be causing some confusion in the sentence. If we added parallel structure to this sentence, I bet it\u2019s meaning would clear up, and we\u2019d have a better sentence.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s take a look:<\/p>\n<div class=\"transcriptcallout\">She likes <strong>to walk<\/strong>, <strong>to hike<\/strong>, and <strong>to climb<\/strong>.<\/div>\n<p>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\nBy putting each of the words in their infinitive forms, we have created parallelism in our sentence. Now, it reads more smoothly and is overall easier to understand.<\/p>\n<div class=\"transcriptcallout\">She walking, to hike, and climbs on the weekends.<\/div>\n<p>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\nWithout parallelism in this sentence, it just doesn\u2019t make sense. Here\u2019s the sentence rewritten with parallelism:<\/p>\n<div class=\"transcriptcallout\">She <strong>walks<\/strong>, <strong>hikes<\/strong>, and <strong>climbs<\/strong> on the weekends.<\/div>\n<p>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\nThat looks so much better. In this example, natural rhythm was restored to the sentence as soon as our list of activities were structured the same.<\/p>\n<h3><span id=\"Example_3\" class=\"m-toc-anchor\"><\/span>Example #3<\/h3>\n<p>\nHere is our last example:<\/p>\n<div class=\"transcriptcallout\">This weekend, Mary has enough time for walks but not climbing.<\/div>\n<p>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\nThis sentence actually has a couple of things wrong with it. First, our two items being compared are not of the same grammatical tense, and second, a word is missing from this example that would otherwise add parallelism to the sentence. Let\u2019s go ahead and restore order to this sentence:<\/p>\n<div class=\"transcriptcallout\">This weekend, Mary has enough time <strong>for walking<\/strong> but not <strong>for climbing<\/strong>.<\/div>\n<p>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\nAfter changing the tense of walks to walking and adding the word for before climbing, we can say that this sentence has parallel structure to it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"home-buttons\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/writing\/\">Return to Writing Videos<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Return to Writing Videos<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":185843,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":{"0":"post-8321","1":"page","2":"type-page","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"page_category-video-pages-for-study-course-sidebar-ad","7":"page_category-writing-videos","8":"page_type-video","9":"subject_matter-english"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8321"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":281063,"href":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8321\/revisions\/281063"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/185843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}