2016-08-12 Writing: parallel structure

Greg Malivuk
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http://www.pastebin.com/u/gmalivuk
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Homework: Look at the writing I have returned to you. Were any of your mistakes sentence fragments?
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Another common writing problem is when phrases with different structure are linked.

Handout p. 28:

Jeanne is an artist and she spends time at athletics. - the grammar is not incorrect, but it’s not a very clear or smooth sentence
-> Jeanne is an artist and an athlete.

When the connected phrases have the same structure, it is called parallelism or parallel structure.

I came. I saw. I conquered. - short sentences, past tense, “I” is the subject
an artist and an athlete - nouns
He slowed down, slid, and scored the winning run. - past-tense verbs
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p. 29 - Circle the phrase which is not parallel, and then try to change it so it is parallel.
1 boat rides -> boating (we need verb+ing)
2 They are digging for clams. -> They dig for clams. (we need simple present)
3 his eyes -> in his eyes / into his eyes (we need a prepositional phrase)
4 painting pictures -> pictures / paintings / painted pictures (we need a noun phrase)
5 sadly -> sadness (we need a noun)
6 into the Rolls Royce -> driven in a Rolls Royce (we need a passive verb phrase)
7 strong -> strength (we need a noun)
8 fly -> flew (we need a past-tense verb)
9 eating meat pies -> meat pie stands (we need a compound noun for a type of food seller)
10 in the fall -> relaxed in the fall (we need an adjective + prepositional phrase)
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Homework: p. 31 practice - sentences 1-10: add words or phrases to complete the sentences with parallel structure. Use a dictionary if you need to.