Sentence Correction - Parallelism

Front 1

Parallel Markers

Back 1

AND, BOTH, OR, EITHER, NOT ONLY, BUT , NOT,BUT ALSO, RATHER THAN, FROM ,TO

Front 2

Examples

Back 2

If the items in a list are long groups of words, such as clauses, that themselves contain lists, you should be careful as you tally items.

Wrong: She argues that the agency acts with disregard for human life AND property AND
reckless abandon AND it should therefore be shut down.
The four underlined items, which are all connected by and right now, are not all at the same logical level.

Human life and property are parallel to each other, but not to reckless abandon. Moreover, none of these items is parallel to the clause it should therefore be shut down.

To fix the sentence, create a clear
hierarchy by repeating words and adding commas where necessary. Also, you should flip lists so that the longest item is last, if possible.

Applying these principles to the example, we get the following.

Right: She argues THAT the agency acts WITH reckless abandon AND WITH disregard for
human life AND property, AND THAT it should therefore be shut down.

Front 3

Superficial Parallelism vs. Actual Parallelism

Back 3

You always must figure out which grammatical structures are logically parallel before making them
structurally parallel.

Be particularly careful with verbs and verbal forms.

Sal applied himself in his new job, arriving early every day, skipping lunch
regularly, AND leaving late every night.

Front 4

Linking Verbs

Back 4

A more subtle form of parallelism involves Linking Verbs. Usually, we think of verbs as action words
(walk, dance, and jump), but another class of verbs is called linking verbs

Instead of expressing what a
subject does, these verbs express what the subject is, or what condition the subject is in.

Front 5

Unique error examples

Back 5

The band chosen for the annual spring concert appealed to both the student body as well
as to the administration.

The band chosen for the annual spring concert appealed to [ (both) the student BODY (andj the
ADMINISTRATION!.