A reader gives attention partly to the structure of a sentence, and partly to the thought. The less we puzzle him with our structure, the more we shall impress him with our thought.
- Parallel: Seeing is believing. [Attention goes to the thought.]
- Confusing: Seeing is to believe. [Attention is diverted to structure.]
The reader's expectation is that uniform structure shall accompany uniform ideas, and that a departure from uniformity shall indicate a change of thought.
[Parallel Structure for Parallel Thoughts]
30. Give parallel structure to those parts of a sentence which are parallel in thought. Do not needlessly interchange an infinitive with a participle, a phrase with a clause, a single word with a phrase or clause, a main clause with a dependent clause, one voice or mode of the verb with another, etc.
- Faulty: Riding is sometimes better exercise than to walk.
- Right: Riding is sometimes better exercise than walking. [Or] To ride is sometimes better exercise than to walk.
- Faulty: He had two desires, of which the first was for money; in the second place, he wanted fame.
- Right: He had two desires, of which the first was for money and the second for fame. [Or] He had two desires: in the first place, he wanted money; in the second, fame.
- Faulty: His rival handled cigars of better quality and having a higher selling price.
- Right: His rival handled cigars of better quality and higher price.
- Faulty: When you have mastered the operation of shifting gears, and after a little practice you will be a good driver.
- Right: When you have mastered the operation of shifting gears, and had a little practice, you will be a good driver. [Or] After you master the gears and have a little practice, you will be a good driver.
- Faulty. These are the duties of the president of a literary
society:
- To preside at regular meetings,
- He calls special meetings,
- Appointment of committees.
- Right: These are the duties of the president of a literary
society:
- To preside at regular meetings,
- To call special meetings,
- To appoint committees.
- Faulty: She was actively connected with the club, church, and with several organized charities. [Here parallelism is obscured by the omission from the second phrase of both the preposition and the article.]
- Right: She was actively connected with the club, with the church, and with several organized charities.
- Faulty: He was red-faced, awkward, and had a disposition to eat everything on the table. [The third element is like the others in thought, and should have similar form.]
- Right: He had a red face, an awkward manner, and a disposition to eat everything on the table. [Or] He was red-faced, awkward, and voracious.
[Note.]—Avoid misleading parallelism. For ideas different in kind, do not use parallel structure.
- Wrong: He was hot, puffing, and evidently had run very hard. [The third element is unlike the others in thought; hence the and is misleading.]
- Right: He was hot and puffing; evidently he had run very hard.
- Confusing: He was admired for his knowledge of science, and for his taste for art, and for this I too honor him. [The last for gives a false parallelism to unlike thoughts.]
- Better: He was admired for his scientific knowledge and for his artistic taste. I honor him for both these qualities.
Exercise:
- The duties of the secretary are to answer correspondence, and keeping the minutes of the meetings.
- This process is the most difficult; it costs the most; and is most important.
- I make it a rule to be orderly, spend no money foolishly, and keep still when I have nothing to say.
- The cotton is put up in bales about five feet in length and three feet wide and four thick, and one of them weighing about five hundred pounds.
- Considerations of economy that one should bear in mind when planning a house are: first, a rectangular ground-plan; second, a one-chimney plan; third, to have only one stairway; fourth, eliminate as many doors as possible; fifth, the bathroom should be above the kitchen so as to reduce the cost of plumbing; and lastly, the rooms should be few and large rather than small and many of them.