Faulty Parallelism

Parallelism, Parallel Structure

Often an instructor will indicate on a student’s paper that there were non-parallel items in the sentence, paragraph, or essay…but what is a non-parallel item, and how can you make the parallel structure correct in your writing?

Parallel structure can be found at the sentence-level, paragraph-level, and at the essay-level.  When items are parallel, they have been made equal through word choice, endings, and transitions.

See these options for help with parallel structure, and/or you can watch the video at the very bottom of this handout:

• Recognizing Parallel Structure When You See It (DEFINITION)
• Parallelism (Student Writing Support Quicktips)
• Parallel Structure (Self-teaching Unit)
• Parallel Structure
• Explanation and examples of parallelism.
• Lincoln's Gettysburg Address 
• This presentation highlights parallel structures in the speech.
• Maintaining Parallel Structure 
• This interactive exercise is designed for middle school and high school students.
• Parallel Structure 
• Printable handout with six practice sentences. Requires Adobe Reader for access.
• Parallel Structure 
• In this 3-page handout, the first page has explanations. The second page offers practice, and the third page is the key. Requires Adobe Reader for access.
• Recognizing Parallel Structure When You See It (Exercise 1)
• Faulty Parallelism (non-parallel sentences) Exercise A
• Parallelism Exercises (from MyEnglishPages.com)
• Parallelism (from Melvin Mencher at McGraw-Hill)
• Parallelism Practice (pdf)
• Parallelism Lesson and 2 Quizzes (the Guide to Grammar)
• Parallel Structure - Post Test