Parallelism

Compound adjectives These apples are fresh and sweet
Compound subjects These apples and pears are fresh.
Compound direct objects Somebody smashed the clock and the keyboard.
Compound verbs I washed and dried the apples
Compound verbs (prog. + perfect)

1. I am washing and drying the apples.

2. Jojo has gone to Memphis and left his best hound dog behind.
Compound adverbs We ate the fruit happily and quickly.
Compound gerund I enjoy biting into a fresh apple and tasting the juicy sweetness.
Compound infinitive

1. I like to bite into a fresh apple and taste the juicy sweetness.

2. I like to bite into a fresh apple whenever I get the chance because it reminds me I can still be a country boy and to run over the hills and dales in my bare feet.
Compound relative clauses I want to eat the sweet corn that Mrs. Olmstead brought over and that was sitting on her windowsill.
Compound prep. phrases The man talked to me about the dog that ate a shoelace and about a duck.
Compound participial phrases By believing in divine intervention, expecting a miracle to happen, and suggesting that he had had a vision, the kid with freckles was in the running to be the next Messiah.
Compound noun clauses The lonely skunk finally realized that one's appearance does matter and that hygiene has been a problem for the whole species.

 

Exercises. Make the necessary corrections to insure proper parallel constructions.

1. I admire him for his intelligence, cheerful disposition and he is honest.

2. Abraham Lincoln was a lawyer, and a politician.

3. When Anna moved, she had to rent an apartment, making new friends, and finding a job.

4. Barb studies each problem carefully and can work out each problem.

5. Many visitors to Los Angeles enjoy visiting Disneyland and to tour movie studios.

6. Fainting can result from a lack of oxygen and losing blood.

7. So far this term, the students in the writing class have learned how to write thesis statements, organize their material, and summarizing their conclusions.

8. The boat sailed across the lake smoothly and quiet.

9. The spoon slid across the table and landed on the back of the beagle chewing its rawhide stick and the parakeet.

10. Physics explains why water freezes and the sun produces heat.

11. With their keen sight, fine hearing and smelling, wolves hunt day or night in quest of elk and deer.

12. Because there are so many spider tattoos on elbows these days, there is a feeling among many blacks that there are people out there who want to snuff them out and every white guy is a fundamentalist skinhead.

13. Knowing how to be patient, job hunting and learning how to sell one's self are things that all students should be prepared to do when they enter the workforce.

14. To make an attempt to understand and knowing how to make a difference should be the goals of a good citizen or an influential malcontent.

15. Touissant L'Ouverture and George Washington wanted to know how they became the fathers of their countries and they were able to do so without anybody's help.