Friday 4 December 2009

Grammar: Parallel Structure -- Beginner Level

After a couple of entries expressing my admiration of Rowan Atkinson's talents, we will shift back to a little grammar, just to spice up things a little bit.

Parallel Structure -- Beginner Level

Question! Is the following sentence correct?

Parallel structure is a big problem in written English and spoken English.

The answer is "Yes". How about this one?

Parallel structure is a big problem in written English and in spoken English.

The answer is still "Yes".

And this is parallel structure, in simple words, it is the balancing of words.

Take a look at the following example.

Mary loves to swim, to paint and draw.

Does it look balanced to you?
Your answer should be "No", because it should be:

Mary loves to swim, to paint and to draw.

Or you can write like this:
Mary loves to swim, paint and draw.

Or even this:
Mary loves swimming , painting and drawing.

How about a little change this time:

Jacko hates girls who spend money on branded good, wasting time in shopping malls all day, and who wear heavy make-up.

A couple of ways to make it right:
  1. Jacko hates girls who spend money on branded good, waste time in shopping malls all day, and wear heavy make-up.
  2. Jacko hates girls who spend money on branded good, who waste time in shopping malls all day, and who wear heavy make-up.

Do read the link below for more examples.


Resources:

2 comments:

  1. Today, I found a signage said' Please no smoking, drinking and eating.'

    is it a parallel structure ?
    Is it necesscary to change it as " Please no smoking, no drinking and no eating.'

    ReplyDelete
  2. Either one will do, this is because you can take "smoking" as one unit, or "no smoking" as one unit.

    ReplyDelete