Achieving Parallelism

Parallel structure is achieved if the same grammatical structures are used for items in a series. Study these examples.

After work, I ate dinner, drove to Jim’s, and watched the football game.

This sentence contains correct parallel structure because each item in the series begins with a past tense verb (ate, drove, and watched).

My brother loves to fish in the river, to swim in the lake, and to dance at the nightclub.

This sentence has correct parallel structure because each item in the series begins with an infinitive (to fish, to swim, and to dance).

In contrast, faulty parallelism occurs if items in a series do not appear in similar grammatical structures. Study these examples.

After work, I ate dinner, drove to Jim’s, and watching the football game was fun.

This sentence contains faulty parallelism. Ate and drove are both past tense verbs, but watching is a participle.

My brother loves to fish in the river, swim in the lake, and to dance at the nightclub.

This sentence also contains faulty parallelism. To fish and to dance are both infinitives, but swim is a present tense verb.

Using parallel structure helps to emphasize the similarity of items and ideas. Always proofread your writing to revise any occurrences of faulty parallelism.

Which sentence is correct? My hobbies are collecting stamps, making scrapbooks, and I love to play the cello. My hobbies are collecting stamps, making scrapbooks, and playing the cello.