The Grammar Doctor

Parallelism

Coordinate ideas within a sentence should be expressed in the same grammatical form. This is called parallel structure. When coordinate ideas are expressed in different grammatical forms, the resulting sentence will be awkward and possibly confusing to the reader. This awkward structure is called faulty parallelism. Correct parallel structure helps the reader see relationships between ideas within a sentence.

WRONG: The board of directors considered the new building a disaster, ugly, and it wasn't very practical. (Three elements describe the building. The first is a noun, disaster. The second is an adjective, ugly. The last is a clause: it wasn't very practical.)

The sentence would be much clearer and smoother if all three elements were in the same grammatical form.

IMPROVED: The board of directors considered the new building a disaster, an eyesore, and a complete mistake. (All nouns)

IMPROVED: The board of directors considered the new building disastrous, ugly, and impractical. (All adjectives)

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