Parallel Lists

The question of whether a sentence is parallel most often arises when listing a series of items with equivalent weight. To ensure your sentence is parallel, make sure each element is roughly the same “kind” of thing: adjectives, adverbs, phrases, or sentences, for example. In fact, the previous sentence demonstrates parallelism because the four list items, “adjectives,” “adverbs,” “phrases,” and “sentences” are all 

1. Plural
2. Nouns
3. Terms for grammatical units
4. Expressed using a single word
5. Roughly equivalent in relevance to the main idea

Consider one incorrect alternative: “To ensure your sentence is parallel, make sure each element is roughly the same “kind” of thing: an adjective, listing long phrases, make multiple sentences into a list, or adverbs, for example.” Do you see how this second sentence flows less smoothly? The list items are all still related to each other, but they no longer feel like “equal” members of a list because they do not share as many parallel properties.

Using parallelism properly helps to model the structure of your argument and the relationship between your points in the based on the structure of your individual sentences.