What is parallelism?

​It's all about balance.

Parallelism in grammar is defined as two or more phrases or clauses in a sentence that have the same grammatical structure.

Items in a series must be parallel

​Examples - notice the comma usage in the lists

He likes music, art, and history (nouns in a series)

I want to go swimming, dancing, and horseback riding (gerunds in a series)​

He is tall, dark, and handsome (adjectives in a series)

They want to paint the living room, to put down new carpet, and to buy a new sofa (infinitives in a series)​

And, but, as, or, than, although

Structures joined by these words must have the same grammatical form.​

He enjoyed the music of Spain and the sculpture of France.

That paint color is not blue, but green.

Taking a bus can be as costly as taking a plane.

He wanted to borrow a car or to rent one while his car was being fixed.

Eating in a restaurant is more fun than cooking at home.

Although he liked to eat good food, he did not like to pay high prices for it.​

Error Examples and How to Correct Them

He is young, intelligent, and has charm.

He is young, intelligent, and charming.

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She likes to read, to travel, and painting.

She likes to read, to travel, and to paint.

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He did not like to swim or skiing.

He did not like to swim or to ski.

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Going on vacation is more fun than to work in the summer.

Going on vacation is more fun than working in the summer.​

The sentence is not using parallel structure correctly.

Some text here about the topic of discussion

That soup should not be served hot, but at a cold temperature.

That soup should not be served hot, but cold.​

​The sentence is not using correct parallel structure

Her husband had bought a house, found a job, and chose a school for the children before she arrived.

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Her husband had bought a house, found a job, and chosen a school for the children before she arrived. (notice 'had' - this is the past perfect verb tense - all of the verbs in the list need to be the participle forms of the verbs. Chose is past tense, but it is not a past perfect participle)

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​We don't include 'had' before every verb in the list - this would be too repetitive and it is understood that the items in the list are all past perfect participles.

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