(the first two are infinitives, but the last one is a gerund) Faulty parallel structure: We are planning to go there, pick him up, and surprising him.(all the items in the list are parallel: adjectives) Parallel structure: Everybody misses her badly.(The first two items are adjectives, but the third one is a phrase, focusing on a noun.) She was kind, brave, and had a lot of passion. Faulty parallel structure:Everybody misses her badly.Now, all the three items (objects of the verb ‘love’) are in a parallel structure. Parallel structure: Unlike my friends, I love playing with kids, spending time with myself, and meditating in the morning. It is nearly impossible to understand the concept of parallelism without looking at some faulty parallel structures (parallelism error) and their corrections (parallel structures). If one item is a phrase, the other/others should be a phrase too, belonging to the same category. It means that if one item in the list is a noun, the other item/s should be a noun too. When you add two or more items to a list of items, we need to make sure that items added to the list are parallel: they are in the same structure and the tense form. Definition of Parallelism (parallel structure) The use of parallelism enhances clarity and readability of a sentence, and it also gives the sentence a rhythm and a pattern to follow. In English, Parallelism, also commonly known as parallel structure or parallel construction, is the application of using the same structure and the tense form while adding two or more components in a list.

Parallel structure definition