What Is Parallelism?
Parallelism is a grammatical structure that involves using the same pattern of words to express
each idea in a sentence. The purpose of parallelism is to show that each idea in the sentence is
equally important.
Parallelism in Lists
Parallelism is very important when writing a list. You must write each item in the list in the same
grammatical form. For example, if you write the first item in a list in gerund form (that means a
verb ending in -ing that acts as a noun), then each other item in the list must also be in this form.
Here’s an example:
“Sarah likes knitting, drawing and writing” is correct parallel structure, as each list item is in
gerund form.
“Sarah likes to knit, draw and write” is also correct, as each item in the list is a verb.
“Sarah likes knitting, drawing and to write” is not correct, as the first two items are in gerund
form, while the last item is an infinitive verb.
Here’s another example, which uses the format of the SAT exam:
“The dog raced around the room, knocking glasses off tables, scattering cushions, and _____ a
trail of devastation in its path.”
(a) leaving
(b) it would leave
(c) it lef
(d) the result was to leave
The correct answer, which preserves the parallel structure of the sentence, is (a).
Prepositions in Parallelism
When writing a list where each item needs the same preposition, you only need to use the
preposition once, not for every item in the list. Here are two examples:
“He wears the same shoes in summer and in winter.” You don’t need to use the second “in” in
this sentence.
“She was frustrated by and disappointed by her test result.” The first instance of “by” is
unnecessary and should be removed.
However, you need to watch out for situations where items in a list require different
prepositions. For example:
“The road was busy because of traffic going to and coming from the festival.” The prepositions
“to” and “from” are different, so you need to include both of them.
Parallelism With Prepositional and Participle Phrases
The items in a parallel structure don’t have to be single words. They can be prepositional or
participle phrases.
A participle phrase is a phrase that begins with a present or past participle, but also contains
modifiers that complete the phrase. For example, in the sentence “The man walking along the
street stopped to tie his shoelace,” the participle phrase “walking along the street” modifies the
noun “man.”
A prepositional phrase begins with a preposition, such as “in,” “on,” “by,” “to” or “from,” and acts
as an adjective or adverb. For example, in the sentence “The book on the floor was wet,” the
prepositional phrase “on the floor” modifies the noun “book.”
When you use these phrases in a list, you must ensure they are both in the same form. You can,
of course, have sentences that include both prepositional and participle phrases. For example:
“The woman walking along the street and wearing yellow shoes stopped to tie her laces.”
In this example, it’s important that the verbs “walking” and “wearing” have the same form.
Parallelism in the SAT Test
SAT questions typically show you a sentence that contains a parallel structure error and ask you
to choose the correct version of the sentence from a list of options. Note that one of the options
might be the original version of the sentence, which you should choose if the sentence contains
no error.
The more you practice identifying and fixing parallelism errors, the better you will get at it. Use
example SAT questions to train yourself to quickly recognize parallelism errors and instinctively
choose the right option to correct the sentence.
This entry was posted in SAT Reading, SAT Writing and tagged ACT, Parallelism, SAT on
September 4, 2016.
