To get across ideas of equal value
or to create snazzy sentences, use parallel sentence
structure. Good sentences attempt to form parallel patterns.
Without this parallel structure, they can sound stilted
and awkward. For instance, which sentence sounds better
(1) King Alfred tried to make the
law clear, precise, and equitable.
(2) King Alfred tried to make clear
laws that had precision and were equitable.
Most people would argue that the
first sentence somehow "sounds better" than the
second. The first sentence uses parallel structure in its
adjectives. The second doesn't. If we label the parts of
speech, the first sentence has this grammatical structure
after the word law:
The second sentence has this grammatical
structure after the word laws:
[Relative Pronoun--Verb-- Direct Object--Conjunction--Verb--Adjective].
The first sentence has a clear pattern of adjective, adjective,
adjective. The second sentence has no pattern at all!
To hear the difference between a
parallel and non-parallel sentence, read aloud the sentences
below. The red sentences
are examples of "bad" or
faulty parallelism. The blue
sentences use parallel
She revels in chocolate, walking
under the moonlight, and songs from the 1930s jazz period.
She revels in sweet chocolate eclairs,
long moonlit walks, and classic jazz music.
more good parallelism:
She loves eating chocolate eclairs,
taking moonlit walks, and singing classic jazz.
Do you hear the difference? What
causes that distinction between "good" and "bad"
sentences? Again, the difference appears in the pattern
of grammar. If we dissect the sentence, the faulty sentence
on top has a grammatical pattern that looks like this:
"She revels in . . . "
[Object of Preposition,]
"walking under the moonlight,"
Article--Object of Preposition]
"and songs from the 1930s
[Conjunction--Direct Object--Preposition--Definite Article--Adjective
--Adjective--Object of Preposition]
It's all a jumbled mess of different
parts of speech being used in different ways. On the other
hand, the second sentence has a clear parallel pattern:
"She revels in"
"sweet chocolate eclairs,"
"long moonlit walks,"
"and classic jazz music."
The same pattern (adjective, adjective
object) reoccurs in the same way. It is parallel in its
structure, and thus musical and rhythmical to read and to
hear spoken aloud. The second example is also parallel,
just in a different pattern.
"She revels in"
"eating chocolate eclairs"
"taking moonlit walks"
"and singing classic
Good writers attempt to form these
good sentences. Here are some more examples culled from
Karen Gordon's The Transitive Vampire: