Questions tagged [parallelism]
Parallelism is about balancing similar words, phrases, or clauses identified by similarity in its grammatical structure. The application of parallelism in sentence construction can sometimes improve writing style, clearness, and readability.
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Parallelism with “have” and “have been” sounds wrong
I came across a sentence like this:
(A) Many have been buggy or poor experiences.
It sounds wrong and I would have written that like this:
(B) Many have been buggy or have poor experiences.
...
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1answer
36 views
Verb Parallelism
The fossils preserved in the rock strata of the Grand Canyon have accumulated for a billion years and provide an invaluable geologic record.
I wonder why “provide” is not “provided”. I think “provide”...
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1answer
50 views
How should an imperative sentence with multiple verb phrases and differing prepositions be worded?
The following are two version of a tagline.
Ask questions and share your unique knowledge about trains with the hobbyist community.
and
Ask questions about and share your unique knowledge on ...
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0answers
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What determines how much of a repetition can be omitted for shortening?
Given two sentences with the same subject, we can merge them into one.
The rooftop designs differ in their ability to keep buildings cool.
The rooftop designs differ in their ability to capture ...
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1answer
30 views
Helps with practice question
Identify the underlined error in the following excerpt:
More than 20 ceiling fan manufacturers, the American Lighting Association (ALA), and leading energy conservation groups invites everyone to ...
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0answers
27 views
“We will not only go to Mars but also to Jupiter.” is grammatically correct? And some other questions
Is this grammatically correct?
"We will not only go to Mars but also to Jupiter."
How about
"We will go not only to Mars but also to Jupiter."
and
"We will go to not only ...
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0answers
24 views
What is the literary device to describe isocolons with direct opposites?
In the poem 'We Shall Come No More' in Tawny Island by Verra Brittain, there is a strong parallelism between the 1st and 2nd stanza, even going as far as the same letter count. However the words are ...
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2answers
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similar to or similarly to
Using the example "to obtain similar to or similarly to," the latter sounds very strange even though similarly is definitely being used as an adverb. The sentence: "The fragments were obtained similar ...
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1answer
49 views
Faulty Parallelism3: to 'while' or not to 'while'
The problem sentence:
I have always liked thinking through complicated problems to find
creative solutions, be they in a mathematics class or while
helping a friend.
I wrote this sentence for ...
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1answer
86 views
is “nor” applied into “were” and “was” in this sentence? “Nor were these practices confined to the decadent phases, was utterly subservient to style.”
now I'm confusing about nor with "were" and "was" in parallel structure in sentence.
full sentence is that
Nor were these practices confined, as some scholars insist, to the later and supposedly ...
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1answer
144 views
regarding parallel structure
Pluripotent genes are activated in injured tissue cells and play important role in regeneration.
In the above sentence, should "play" be changed to "played" for parallel construction. Pls help.
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2answers
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Can there be a comma between the adverb and the noun of the last member of a series?
I saw a practice SAT question on Khan Academy:
Certified Executive Chef Hilary DeMane has prepared confections for celebrities, governors, and even Ronald Reagan.
The correct answer is filled in ...
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1answer
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Question about using “a” in sentence [closed]
I don’t even know how to accurately ask this question, but I need to know which of the following is correct:
Tom Smith is an Arizona native and partner at the Law Offices of Smith & Smith.
Or ...
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1answer
37 views
Parallelism “was able to” - Is this sentence correct?
Is the following sentence correct?
"He was always able to understand complex situations immediately and
to find good solutions right away."
To me it sounds odd and should be:
"He was always ...
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3answers
454 views
“Everyone is fine and having fun” or “Everyone is fine and is having fun.”
While both sentences are probably grammatical, I’m wondering which one is preferable. To me, the first sentence sounds awkward, but the second sentence may have an unnecessary is. Basing your answers ...
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1answer
144 views
A question about one point of Donald Trump’s speech at Helsinki
At his recent Helsinki summit, while reading from a prepared, written speech, Donald Trump said during his opening remarks and then later tweeted, quoting himself:
I would rather take a political ...
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2answers
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Is “if you need help or having trouble” correct?
Well, I have been struggling with this for a while now. My friend wrote a piece of documentation for his software, in which he included this sentence:
This repository contains [software name] API ...
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3answers
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a parallelism issue - the most interesting garment
Is there a parallelism issue with the following sentence?
Prizes will be given to the best dressed, the worst dressed, and the most “interesting” garment.
Is it natural to interpret "the most ...
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1answer
77 views
“I spilled water on the table and [the] floor”
Compare the sentences:
I spilled water on the floor.
I spilled water on the table and floor.
I spilled water on the table and the chair.
Is the missing the before floor in the second ...
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1answer
79 views
Parallelism of as…as
For these two sentences, why do we need to use "he was" and "it is"? What two things are being compared in these sentences?
Henry was almost as famous a philosopher as he was a poet.
It is as ...
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1answer
54 views
Parallelism Check
He believed that the judge would ask him to present the case, the jury would listen to his speech, and questions would be raised by the prosecutor.
He believed that the judge would ask him to present ...
1
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1answer
76 views
“to make sure” parallelism and comma
Is the first comma needed in the sentence "To make sure that the audit will go smoothly, and you will avoid future questions from auditors, please ..."?
My thinking is that although we normally put a ...
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1answer
71 views
Past and present tense can use in one sentence? [closed]
If I describe the people that I know in the past are special and still friends now, can I write it like this:
Every person that I meet is unique. I treasure the people that I have met, and trust is ...
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0answers
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3 adjectives modifying nouns in a series
Is this a correct phrase?
the three colorful secret palettes, paintbrushes, and paints
Does this phrase mean that all three palettes, paintbrushes, and paint are colorful and secret.
Because I ...
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1answer
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All vs everything
Are "everything" and "all" interchangeable in these two cases? I'm having a hard time choosing between them.
1) You must tell me all/everything about your holiday.
2)I am having a terrible day. All/...
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3answers
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What is the scope of “more” when making a list of comparatives?
Lets assume I have an object X of which I want to say (1) it's more important than Y and (2) it's smaller than Y (Y is left implicit in the examples.) If I say X is more important before saying X is ...
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2answers
60 views
I have always—and will always—do X? or done X?
(This has gotta be a duplicate, but I didn't quite manage to find anything...)
Is either of the following correct? If so, what is the general rule that makes the other one wrong?
I have always—...
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2answers
50 views
What can I do to make this sentence perfectly parallel?
In editing the following sentence, I would like to use perfect parallel construction for the latter part of the sentence — that is, ideally I’d like to get rid of "in." But that would make the ...
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1answer
334 views
Passive voice sentence in “The New Colossus” excerpt
I'm in 10th grade English, and for my assignment I have to highlight three sentences in this excerpt in The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus.
... "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses ...
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1answer
47 views
Parallel struture
"Studying abroad can be an educational experience for foreign
students. It may broaden their horizons. In addition, such an
experience can expand their knowledge of the world, as a result of
...
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1answer
261 views
Articles in the “and” structure
In terms of motorcycle, the forecast sales is expected to experience an ascending trend from 2006 to 2017, with a significant surge of approximately 75k in the fist two years and ______ continuous ...
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0answers
192 views
Parallel adjective usage
Is the sentence:
He is, or at the very least, is among, the tallest in our school.
grammatically correct?
Note that (I believe) that this parallelly states that "either he is the tallest [person] ...
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1answer
352 views
grammatically correct or double negative?
If I write "I have absolutely nothing to do with him and never will." is that clear and grammatically correct in meaning that I will never have anything to do with him? Could it be interpreted/...
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1answer
60 views
What is the term for deliberately forcing a not-quite-grammatical parallelism?
There is a fairly common figure of speech where one deliberately imposes a parallel structure that is not quite grammatical. For instance, consider the question "Is A less, equal, or greater than B?" ...
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1answer
198 views
“I was struggling to establish and [to] follow” [closed]
I am learning English. I found this sentence in a book.
At the time, I was struggling to establish myself as a writer and to follow my path...
Is it grammatically correct to use the to-infinitive ...
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2answers
347 views
Is this correct? “…the user has either finished dragging or dragged out of the upload modal an item”
Creates an action to indicate that the user has either finished dragging or dragged out of the upload modal an item.
My intent is for "an item" to serve as object for both 'dragging' and 'dragged.' ...
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1answer
589 views
Parallelism in “whether… or not” sentence
We have an exercise on parallelism involving rewriting sentences correctly; there's this one sentence I'm unsure as how to rewrite.
Mother cannot decide whether she will allow Cecil to attend the ...
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3answers
760 views
When Correlative Conjunctions are NOT parallel
Normally, the rule for correlative conjunctions is that the two elements being combined must be parallel in structure. But I believe there are cases this rule is broken, but I'm not sure why they're ...
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1answer
210 views
Parallel negative verbs in Present Perfect
Which one is correct?
"I have not done(any verb1) or done(any verb2) something"
"I have not done(any verb1) or have not done(any verb2) something"
"I have not done(any verb1) or not done(any verb2) ...
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2answers
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“For detailed review and comparison ”
I would be so grateful if you can let me know which of the following sentences is correct:
1: "For a detailed review of the most related works and a comparison between them "
2: "For detailed review ...
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0answers
134 views
Faulty Parallelism [closed]
Given a certain set of sentences, we were supposed to outline the specific area of faulty parallelism, specifically where the parallelism breaks down, using brackets, and then write the correct ...
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1answer
5k views
'both in terms of' or 'in terms of both'?
Truffles are among the world’s most valuable commodities, in terms of both economic and ecological worth.
Truffles are among the world’s most valuable commodities, both in terms of economic and ...
3
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1answer
578 views
When using a verb that has a noun form with a gerund, do you use the gerund or the noun?
This is the sentence in question:
The last time he slept in a room by himself must have been that melancholy week between Stave’s passing and my arriving.
Now, in the above sentence, the ...
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2answers
183 views
Parallelism Indicators
Consider the following two sentences which use Parallelism:
(A) "He manages to get in and arranges the books"
(B) "He manages to get in and arrange the books"
I feel both are correct and the ...
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1answer
387 views
Comma usage in parallel structure without conjunctions?
I think it's valid to omit the conjunction in a parallel clause for effect, e.g.:
There can be no absolution, no forgiveness.
But is this still a valid variant of parallelism, or does the later ...
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3answers
414 views
When should I add “to” before an infinitive in a parallelism sentence?
Here is a sentence I wrote:
All he can do, as it turns out, is to stay by her side, take her to wherever he goes and hope someday she will wake up.
I added to ahead of take... in the first place, ...
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7answers
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“You hear but you don't listen” or “You listen but you don't hear”?
My teacher introduced the quote:
You look but you don’t see. You hear but you don’t listen.
But I also saw books saying:
You look but you don’t see. You listen but you don’t hear.
...
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1answer
118 views
How to Make a Parallel Structure when a Same-Class word is Not Found?
I want to make a sentence, adequately using parallel structures, and can't find a way for that. I couldn't find an adjective for tobacco-relative, like I have for alcohol and automotive, in the ...
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1answer
41 views
“…putting the proper efforts and funds into it…” or “…putting the proper effort and funds into it…”
Complete sentence: Marketing can be invaluable to your firm, and putting the proper effort and funds into it up-front to ensure that it is done correctly can provide you with substantial benefits.
...
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1answer
3k views
In order to Verb and (to) Verb [duplicate]
In order to address traffic jam and reduce carbon footprint
In order to address traffic jam and to reduce carbon footprint
Which one is correct?
