The power of parallel structure

This iconic speech stands not only as a masterpiece of oratory, but also as a masterpiece of parallel construction. The paragraph itself is a parallel construction, with its four sentences each leading off with the invocation ‘Now is the time.’ And within each of the two middle sentences, evocative contrasts are presented in parallel form. Using parallel structure effectively is not the sole purview of master orators, however. Once you know where to look for opportunities, you can use parallel structure to enliven your own writing. Within sentences, there are two key opportunities. First, look for situations where you enumerate a series of ideas, and then ensure that each item in the series is similarly constructed. A series might comprise short phrases separated by commas or semicolons, or even set off by numbers. Let’s consider an example: Faculty members juggled a number of competing responsibilities, including to provide feedback, assessment of learners, and developing curricula. In this series, the three competing responsibilities are expressed in three different ways: as an infinitive (‘to provide’), as a noun (‘assessment’), and as a gerund (‘developing’). The effect of this verbal eclecticism is that the writing loses momentum, and the reader gets stuck midsentence. If each idea were expressed in a similar fashion, the sentence would flow much more easily: Exploiting opportunities to create parallel structure is a surefire technique to improve your writing. Parallel structure simply means that ideas that are similar in content or function are expressed in a similar way [1]. To present a pair or a series of ideas using parallel structure, each idea should be written in a similar grammatical and stylistic form. Parallel constructions—within sentences or paragraphs—guide readers elegantly through your story. When we use parallel constructions, we show our readers how our ideas are linked, rather than forcing them to work to see the connections.