The last thing, 'blocking,' is in the gerund form. The sentence is listing three things that LeBron James does with the basketball. In the correction, the last item was put in the same structure as the other items. Here's an example of a sentence with an error in parallel structure: LeBron James often dunks, steals, and blocking the basketball. Parallel: I have seven years’ experience with account management, marketing strategies, and team leadership. Mixing and repeating prepositions (with, to, of, over, under, by). Repeat words instead of repeating patterns. Here is the same list with a broken parallel structure, with changing verbs at the beginning of the sentence. I started each sentence with an -ing verb and stayed focused on what NOT to do. In the last item in the sentence above, the writer breaks away from the structure of adjective + noun. This is an example of parallel structure. Not parallel: I have seven years’ experience with account management, marketing strategies, and being a team leader. Instead of keeping the item focused on the base of the sentence ( She asked me to), the writer used I need to. Notice that the last item has a different structure that does not match the structure of the first two items. Let’s look at the list of ideas in the sentence: Now the sentence does not have parallel structure. Not parallel: She asked me to sweep the floor, clean the tables, and I need to stack the chairs. Notice how each of the ideas has the same structure of present tense verb + the + item Parallel: She asked me to sweep the floor, clean the tables, and stack the chairs.ĭo you see a similar pattern in the ideas of that sentence? Let’s look at the list of ideas in the sentence: To create parallel structure, you must present ideas in the same grammatical structure. Using parallel structure also makes your writing smooth and easy to read. Parallel structure is a way to show your reader that two (or more) ideas have the same importance.
#Parallel structure example how to#
In this lesson, you will learn how to use parallel structure in your writing.