Parallelism

Parallelism is the use of the same grammatical form for two or more elements that belong together, so the structure of the sentence shows the reader that the ideas are of equal kind and weight.

He came for the money, stayed for the work, and left because of the people.

Three clauses, all built the same way: verb, then reason. The repeated shape is what makes the sentence feel finished, because the reader recognises the pattern after the second item and hears the third as an arrival.

Parallelism examples

• Veni, vidi, vici. (I came, I saw, I conquered.) Caesar's three verbs, one shape, three words, and it has survived two thousand years on structure alone.
• It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. The opening of Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities (1859): two clauses identical except for the one word that matters.
• Government of the people, by the people, for the people. Lincoln, the Gettysburg Address (1863). Only the small word changes, so the reader hears the change.
• She wanted to travel, to write and to never answer another email. Three infinitives in a row.

Faulty parallelism

Break the pattern and the sentence sags:

He came for the money, the work was what kept him there, and the people were why he left.

Same information, no shape. That is faulty parallelism: items that belong together written in different grammatical forms. It is one of the commonest notes in a line edit. It turns up most often in:

• Lists. I like hiking, to swim and reading. Fix: hiking, swimming and reading.
• Comparisons. Writing a draft is easier than to revise it. Fix: Writing a draft is easier than revising it.
• Bullet points and headings, where each item should start the same way.
• After a correlative conjunction, where the two halves of the pair must match exactly. She not only rewrote the ending but also the first chapter. Fix: She rewrote not only the ending but also the first chapter.

How to check: find the word that introduces the list or pair, then read it with each item in turn. I like hiking. I like to swim. I like reading. The odd one out is the one to fix.

The figure behind the figures

Parallelism is the foundation other devices are built on. Set two parallel clauses against each other and you get antithesis. Repeat the opening words of each and you get anaphora. Reverse the order in the second and you get chiasmus. Drop the and between parallel items and you get asyndeton. Learn this one and the rest are variations.

Frequently asked questions

What is faulty parallelism?

Faulty parallelism is when items that belong together in a list or comparison are written in different grammatical forms, such as 'I like hiking, to swim and reading'. The fix is to put them all in the same form: 'I like hiking, swimming and reading.'

What is an example of parallelism?

Julius Caesar's 'Veni, vidi, vici' (I came, I saw, I conquered) uses three verbs in the same form. Lincoln's 'government of the people, by the people, for the people' repeats the same phrase shape three times.

Why do writers use parallelism?

It makes related ideas easy to follow and easy to remember. Once the reader hears the pattern, the final item lands with extra force.