Parallel structure is when you balance the grammatical structures of words, clauses, sentences, or phrases in your writing.
They are important for any kind of writing and speaking in order to maintain coherency.
We make words or phrases parallel when we are writing things in a list or series, and each word must have the same grammatical form.
The coordinating conjunction ‘and’ is usually used to connect the parallel items, but other coordinating conjunctions such as ‘or’ and ‘nor’ may be used.
Correlative conjunctions such as 'both/and', 'neither/nor' and 'whether/or' are also used as connectors.
1. Infinitives / Gerunds
The first sentence is wrong because the first item in the list, to go, is an infinitive, but the second item, studying, is a gerund. In order to correct it, studying has been changed to an infinitive.
2. Adverbs
The first sentence is incorrect as the last item in the series, persuasive, is an adjective, whereas the first two items are adverbs. The second sentence has been corrected by changing persuasive to the adverb, persuasively.
3. Adjectives
The first sentence is incorrect, since the first two items in the series, comfortable and airy, are adjectives, whereas the last item, it was not dirty, contains a verb. The second sentence has been corrected by changing it was not dirty to the adjective clean.
4. Infinitive Phrases
The first sentence is wrong because an infinitive and gerund phrase have been mixed together. The second is correct because they are both infinitive phrases.
5. Prepositional Phrases
The first sentence is not parallel since the first word, the rock, does not have a preposition, but the next two words in the list have. It can be corrected by placing the correct preposition, over, before climbed.
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