Parallel+Structure

__COMARTS -- Academic Writing -- Chapter 12: Parallelism__

__What doesn’t fit in this picture?__



__1. Parallelism: Introduction__

When you build sentences, lists or connect a series of verbs/nouns/adjectives/etc., they should be of the same type. Put apples with apples, not apples with oranges. And keep human heads out of your coffee beans.

 What doesn’t fit in these sentences:

1) Students unable to attend classes must feel depressed, saddened, afflicted, disheartened, tormented and bore.

All are adjectives using the past participle except the verb “bore.”

Parallel version: // Students unable to attend classes must feel depressed, saddened, afflicted, disheartened, tormented and bored. //

 2) The Chulalongkorn student body is comprised of Thais, Indians, Vietnamese, Australians and several from the United States.

The Chulalongkorn student body is comprised of Thais, Indians, Vietnamese, Australians and several Americans.

The sentence lists five elements. Thais, Indians, Vietnamese and Australians are all plural nouns whereas “several from the United States” is inconsistent.

Easily fixed: // The Chulalongkorn student body is comprised of Thais, Indians, Vietnamese, Australians and several Americans. //

 3) On the final exam, COMARTS students will do well if they review the units, they understand the concepts and practice writing structured paragraphs.

According to this sentence, students need to do three things.

… if: 1) they review the units 2) they understand the concepts and 3) practice writing structured paragraphs.

Hmmm. We don’t have the pronoun for No. 3, so we could change that to “they practice writing structured paragraphs.” But that would be redundant. How many times do we really need to say “they?” If you answered “once” then close your eyes and feel the warm wind of praise from across these vast Internets.

Parallel version: // On the final exam, COMARTS students will do well if they review the units, understand the concepts and practice writing structured paragraphs. //

 4) Preparing for the COMARTS final is a little different than other finals.

Here we’re comparing two things. We are comparing: “preparing for the final” VERSUS “other finals.”

a process VERSUS stacks of paper with questions printed on them

Can we really compare the process of “preparing” to pieces of paper with questions printed on them? Apples and oranges, guys. We want apples and apples.

To make it parallel, we actually have to add a word to make it specific and accurate: // Preparing for the COMARTS final is a little different than preparing for other finals. //

 5) COMARTS students are worried about what their final grades are and the teachers who are strict.

Students here are worried about two things: 1) what their final grades are 2) the teachers who are strict

Parallel version: // COMARTS students are worried about what their final grades are and which teachers are strict. // 6) Many foreign correspondents use Thailand as a base of operations in Southeast Asia because of its regional leadership, growth of the domestic media, its affordable living and its developed infrastructure.   So we have four reasons why reporters live in Thailand:  <span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">1) its regional leadership  <span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">2) growth of the domestic media  <span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">3) its affordable living and  <span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">4) its developed infrastructure <span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We can't just put "its" before #2, because that would not make sense. <span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Each other item follows "its" + ADJECTIVE + NOUN. So the first thing we have to do is change #2 into a comparable noun phrase. "its domestic media growth." <span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Finally, we only need one "its" for the rest to be parallel: //<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Many foreign correspondents use Thailand as a base of operations in Southeast Asia because of its regional leadership, domestic media growth, affordable living and developed infrastructure. // <span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">__2. Parallelism: Study time__ //<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. // <span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Read pages 179-181. Do Practice 1. Eagerly await instructions for the next assignment! :D