Parallelism: What Is Parallelism? Definition and Examples

If you want to know what parallelism is and how to use it in your writing, you've come to the right place. In this article, we'll cover this writing tool's meaning and the best parallelism techniques.

In short:

• Parallelism helps your sentences follow a similar structure by ensuring the repetition of certain grammatical elements.

This guide is part of our free online Grammar Book.

What is Parallelism?

What does it mean when two or more things are parallel? If we consider the geometrical meaning for a moment, when two lines are parallel, they are identical and follow the same direction.

The grammatical meaning is similar: when two sentences are parallel, they follow the same direction. They are not identical, per se, but very similar in that they'll use similar grammatical structures. In short, parallelism helps you bring symmetry to your sentences.

Sometimes, it involves using the same words; sometimes, it can mean using the same parts of speech; other times, it involves using a pattern.

• Parallelism doesn't just apply to cases with multiple sentences, by the way.
• You also have parallelism in single sentences.

For example:

I want to go home, eat dinner and go to bed. ✅

I want to go home, eat dinner, and then I'm heading to bed. ❌

Though the second sentence isn't technically incorrect, grammatically, it doesn't follow parallelism rules because the first two verbs are in the infinitive form, and the third is in the present participle form. The first sentence is preferable because the three verbs follow the same infinitive form structure.

You could also have all three verbs follow the infinitive form structure:

I'm going home, eating dinner and then I'm heading to bed. ✅

Why Use It?

You might want to use parallelism in your sentences for two reasons:

• Out of grammatical principle
• As a tool to improve your writing.

In the first case, yes, parallelism, while not compulsory, will significantly improve your credibility because your sentences will be better crafted. It can come across as a bit amateurish to have sentences without parallelism. Look at our example from earlier; the second sentence doesn't sound quite right, although technically, you can't fault it as there's nothing wrong with it. But the lack of parallelism makes it sound odd. The first and third sentences are much more pleasant to read and easier to understand.

And what about those who use it as a tool? Well, it's no coincidence that many of the world's most memorable speeches and idioms use parallel structure. It creates a harmonious effect that makes your sentences memorable and easy to understand. It's like poetry!

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.

See how each sentence begins with 'I have a dream'? That's an example of anaphora, a parallelism technique (more on that later).

And the great thing about parallelism? It's versatile! You can use it not only in creative writing like poetry and short stories but also in more official pieces of writing like papers and speeches.

How to Use Parallelism in Your Writing

Parallelism is a broad topic and can apply to several elements of your sentences. I will show you the most common techniques, as once you grasp them, you can apply them to all of your writing.

There are essentially two kinds of parallelism to correspond with the two reasons why people use parallelism in the first place:

• for grammatical flow accuracy
• as a literary device.

Using it as a Grammatical Tool

The idea with grammatical parallelism is that you use the same grammatical units in each part of your sentence or across your sentences if there is more than one.

Let me explain.

• When a sentence contains some kind of list, the structure of all the items in the list should match to ensure parallelism.

Let's look at the different ways you can ensure you do this.

Harmonizing Verb Form

We saw this in our earlier example, where we made the sentence parallel by ensuring all the verb forms in the sentence matched. Instead of having two verbs in the infinitive form and one in the present particle form, we changed the last one so that they were all aligned.

But here's another example:

I've washed, peeled, and am now going to boil the potatoes.

The first two verbs are in the past indefinite tense, whereas the final one is in the future tense. The tenses are, in fact, correct since two items have already been completed, whereas the other one is yet to be done. But then they shouldn't feature in the same list.

I would rephrase the sentence this way:

I've washed and peeled the potatoes and now I'm going to boil them.

This same principle applies to all the other parts of speech, too—for example, adverbs.

Using Adverbs Together

Take the following sentence, for example:

The baby confidently and without fear stood up and took two steps. ❌

Here we have the adverb 'confidently' and the prepositional phrase 'without fear.' It sounds pretty clunky. This sentence would be much improved if we could match the parts of speech using two adverbs instead.

Like this:

The baby confidently and fearlessly stood up and took two steps. ✅

See the improvement?

Separating Nouns and Adjectives

Here's an example of a sentence that uses two nouns followed by an adjective:

I like flowers, sunshine and hot. ❌

This sentence isn't parallel because the three items in the list are different parts of speech. Here you have a couple of options. You could keep the word 'hot' and turn it into a noun phrase like 'hot weather.' Or you could simply change the word to its noun form, 'heat.'

I like flowers, sunshine and hot weather. ✅

I like flowers, sunshine and heat. ✅

Either way, in both cases, you now have a parallel structure.

Choosing Between Pronouns and Proper Nouns

Here's one more example, this time with pronouns.

The green toothbrush is his and the red toothbrush is Sally's. ❌

In the first part of the sentence, we've used the pronoun 'his'; in the second part, we've used the person's name.

• Using pronouns in both parts or the person's name in both cases would be better.

As a side note, it would be okay to put a sentence like this if the name of the 'his' person was referred to in the previous sentence.

For example:

Are those John's toothbrushes?

The green toothbrush is his and the red toothrbush is Sally's.

I could show you many more examples of grammatical structure, but I think you get the picture. You can apply the same principles to any lack of parallelism caused by mismatched parts of speech in a sentence. So I'll just show you one last example for the road.

Deciding Whether or Not to Use Conjunctions

Sometimes you might use a conjunction when listing a series of items in a sentence. You don't have to, but you can. If you decide to, make sure you use it for all the items.

Unlike in the following sentence:

The problem with the hose is that it's too small, that we can't afford it, and it isn't near a school. ❌

The first two items in the list contain the conjunction 'that,' whereas the last one doesn't. If you're going to use a conjunction, commit to it. But if you can leave it out, leave it out for all the items.

The following two sentences are both correct:

The problem with the hose is that it's too small, that we can't afford it, and that it isn't near a school. ✅

The problem with the hose is it's too small, we can't afford it, and it isn't near a school. ✅

Top Tip! Notice how the titles in this section follow a parallel structure: they each start with a verb in the present participle tense.

Using it as a Literary Device

If you're not using parallelism because you're a grammar nerd, like me, and want your sentences to sound the best they can, then you might want to use it as a literary device.

• Language, after all, isn't all about grammar; it's also about having fun. I like to think of it as an art form, and parallelism makes it more interesting. It makes your sentences more musical, poetic, and easy to follow.

There are several different kinds of literary parallelism, some of which I will cover now.

Anaphora

Anaphoras allow you to repeat certain words at the beginning of a clause, phrase, or sentence as a way of emphasizing them. By way of example, here's an excerpt from a famous speech of Lincoln's:

We cannot dedicate—we cannot consecrate—we cannot hallow—this ground. 

Epistrophe

Epistrophes are similar to anaphoras in that they use word repetition, except the repeated word is at the end of the clause, phrase, or sentence, like in the following famous sentence that you'll always hear in a court of law (or on your favorite legal drama).

Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? 

Antithesis

Antithesis, as the prefix 'anti' implies, is a way to lay out two opposing ideas, like in this famous quote by Armstrong:

That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.

Notice how the structure of each of the two phrases matches (adjective+noun) while presenting opposing ideas.

Asyndeton

Sentences that contain asyndetons are very interesting because they're technically ungrammatical. The idea is to leave out the coordinating conjunctions (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) for increased fluidity. Have you ever heard this famous saying?

Live, laugh, love.

You can often find it on decorative homeware items. There should be an 'and' between the second and last items, but it makes the sentence flow better to leave it out. And it's okay to do so, considering the purpose of the sentence.

The opposite of asyndeton is syndeton, where you add in more conjunctions instead of removing them, like in these lyrics from the famous Rolling Stones song 'Satisfaction':

'Cause I try and I try and I try and I try
I can't get no, I can't get no

Climax

Sentences that use climax as a figure of speech organize elements of a series into ascending order to build up the final piece. These words by Shakespeare illustrate it well:

Lost, vaded, broken, dead within an hour.

Symploce

The last type we'll look at is symploce, a combination of anaphora and epistrophe: you repeat words at the beginning and the end of a sentence. Here's an extract from a Walt Whitman poem that uses symploce.

And if the body does not do fully as much as the soul?
And if the body were not the soul, what is the soul? 

Concluding Thoughts

That concludes this article on parallelism and how to use it in your writing.

Let's summarize what we've learned:

• Parallel sentences follow a similar structure.
• Parallelism helps you construct coherent sentences that flow and fit well together.
• You can use parallelism for grammar purposes or literary purposes.

If you found this article helpful, you'll love our Grammar Book, a free online database full of articles that cover grammar topics like this one, making a complex concept easy to understand. Check it out!