These examples of parallelism in English grammar show you correct and incorrect sentences.
Sentences with Correct & Incorrect Parallelism
Parallelism with infinitives:
Incorrect: She likes to hike, swim, and walking. Correct: She likes to hike, swim, and walk.
Parallelism with adjectives:
Incorrect: The car is fast, reliable, and it handles well. Correct: The car is fast, reliable, and well-handling.
Parallelism with nouns:
Incorrect: He is an engineer, programmer, and designs websites. Correct: He is an engineer, programmer, and website designer.
Parallelism with verbs:
Incorrect: She sings, dances, and enjoys painting. Correct: She sings, dances, and paints.
Parallelism with gerunds:
Incorrect: I love swimming, hiking, and to read books. Correct: I love swimming, hiking, and reading books.
Parallelism with adverbs:
Incorrect: He ran quickly, jumped high, and a graceful land. Correct: He ran quickly, jumped high, and landed gracefully.
Parallelism with parallel clauses:
Incorrect: He is talented at playing the guitar and that he sings. Correct: He is talented at playing the guitar and singing.
Parallelism with correlative conjunctions:
Incorrect: Either you can work hard or study smartly to succeed. Correct: You can either work hard or study smartly to succeed.
Parallelism with infinitive phrases:
Incorrect: She plans to cook, travel, and visiting her friends. Correct: She plans to cook, travel, and visit her friends.
Parallelism with prepositional phrases:
Incorrect: He went to the store, to the park, and walking by the beach. Correct: He went to the store, to the park, and to the beach.
Parallelism with comparisons:
Incorrect: The city is as vibrant as it is having a rich history. Correct: The city is as vibrant as it is rich in history.
Parallelism with gerund phrases:
Incorrect: She enjoys reading books, jogging in the park, and she goes to the movies. Correct: She enjoys reading books, jogging in the park, and watching movies.
Parallelism with phrasal verbs:
Incorrect: I need to wake up early, to get dressed, and make breakfast. Correct: I need to wake up early, get dressed, and make breakfast.
Parallelism with determiners (e.g. articles):
Incorrect: They can choose either an apple, orange, or a banana. Correct: They can choose either an apple, an orange, or a banana.
Parallelism with intensifiers:
Incorrect: The project was not only challenging but it was also requiring creativity. Correct: The project was not only challenging but also required creativity.
Parallelism with participial phrases:
Incorrect: The writer captures emotions vividly, describing scenes with precision, and his characters are believable. Correct: The writer captures emotions vividly, describes scenes with precision, and creates believable characters.
Parallelism with conjunctions in sentences:
Incorrect: Whether it's raining or if it's snowing, I'll be staying indoors. Correct: Whether it's raining or snowing, I'll be staying indoors.
The main parts of a sentence are subjects, verbs, objects, predicates, and subject complements. All of these have a specific purpose within the structure of a sentence.
The two types of clauses in English grammar are the independent and dependent clause. Both have a subject and verb which makes them clauses, but while independent clauses express a complete thought, dependent clauses do not. This is the main distinction.
Phrases and clauses are the key building blocks of sentences. A clause contains a subject and a verb and can express a complete thought. A phrase does not contain a subject or verb.
Direct and indirect objects are key parts of most sentences. A direct object is the receiver of action while indirect object identifies to or for whom or what the action of the verb is performed.
Parallelism is about balancing the grammatical structure of words, phrases and clauses in your sentences. Parallel structure will improve your writing's coherence.
The 8 parts of speech are Nouns, Adjectives, Adverbs, Verbs, Prepositions, Pronouns, Conjunctions, and Interjections. Learn about the function of each of these grammatical categories.