Thursday, October 23, 2008

Writing - Parallel Structure

Have you heard of the term "parallel structure" when it comes to writing? It's certainly not something you hear of every day, but is an important part of good (and correct) writing!

If you're a fan of the Olympics and gymnastics, you've heard of and seen the parallel bars. Think about those for a minute and look at the image below of parallel bars.


What do you notice about those bars? Well, you could say that they are very similar to each other. They have the same form, style, and layout as each other. Believe it or not, this is true of good writing! Let's take a closer look at how.

Sometimes you may have a sentence that has multiple verbs in it. Just like those parallel bars, you want those verbs to be in the same format as each other and to follow the same layout. So if one verb is in the past tense, they all should be! If one verb is using the present participle form, they all should be! Below are some examples.

My sister was running, jumping, and playing all over the soccer field.
Bill ate dinner, slept for a bit, and then jogged.
The cat eats and sleeps throughout the day.

Did you see how each sentence had multiple verbs, but they were all similar in format and tense? That's something to pay attention to the next time you write!

Now you try it! Write a single sentence that uses two or three verbs and has correct parallel structure. I know you can do it!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mirlene comment
Yesterday, in my job I went early to a doctor appointment with a resident, as soon I came back ten minutes later they paged me, I had to go back with another one.

Anonymous said...

Last night I washed ,feed,berd and rock the baby all in 30 min. Before dinner we clean, season,boil and bake the chicken for dinner. tiffany f

Anonymous said...

My dog play, eat and sleep every day, and run in the park some time.

Anonymous said...

My dog pay,eat and sleep every day, and run in the park two o three time a week.

Maria E Wahlenberg

Anonymous said...

Yesterday, I take my daughter for her swimming lesson.
Mr Harry always cutting his grass and planting flowers.


Dorothea M.

Anonymous said...

My daughter went to school yesterday,worked hard at her lessons,went straight to tennis lessons after school and eventually arrived home at 7pm.




Michele T.