• We want our sentences - but especially our ITEMS IN A SERIES - to be parallel in structure

  • that is, to be of the same grammatical structure. 

• A POKER METAPHOR best explains the idea behind it: 

think 3 of a kind 

• If you have 3 jacks, you’d win (or, at least beat 2 pair).

• However, if you have only 2 jacks and 1 ace, you better fold because your hand is not parallel in structure.

 

• When our items in a series (or sentences) are not parallel, we call this a FAULTY PARALLELISM. 

• We see this error mostly in our Thesis Statements

  • in particular, the “support” part of our TS

    • (remember:  Topic + Main Idea + Support).

  • The “support” is often items in a series.

 

• In our EXAMPLE essay, the support will be a list of reasons, and these reasons need to be parallel in structure:               

  • 3 nouns, 3 prepositional phrases, 3 "because" clauses.

• For example (pun intended), if I were writing why I hate winter, my thesis could look like this: 

  • However, the three most significant reasons I hate winter include the snow, the cold, and the snow.

  • Here, we have 3 nouns (one used twice because I hate the snow!)

• OR I could phrase it as so: 

  • I hate winter because of the snow, because of the cold, and because of the snow.

  • Here, we have 3 "because" clauses.

• As you draft your Outline Template, and especially the Thesis in your OT, pay attention to your sentence structure; errors made in the OT often find themselves repeated in the essay drafts.

 

*LBH GRAMMAR EXERCISES*