parallelism
Syntactical symmetry
Parallelism is recurrent
syntactical similarity.
 Several
parts of a sentence or several
sentences are expressed similarly to show
that the ideas in the parts or sentences
are equal in importance.
 Parallelism also adds balance and rhythm
and, most importantly, clarity to the
sentence.
Parallelism- so many options
 Any
sentence elements can be paralleled, any
number of times (though, of course, excess
quickly becomes ridiculous).
parallel subjects with parallel modifiers
attached to them:
 Ferocious
dragons breathing fire and
wicked sorcerers casting spells do their
harm by night in the forest of Darkness.
parallel verbs and adverbs:
I
have always sought but
seldom obtained a parking
space near the door.
Quickly and happily he walked
around the corner to buy the
book.
parallel verbs and direct
objects:
He
liked to eat watermelon
and to avoid grapefruit.
just the objects:
This
wealthy car collector
owns three pastel Cadillacs,
two gold Rolls Royces, and
ten assorted Mercedes.
parallel prepositional phrases:
He
found it difficult to vote for
an ideal truth but against his
own self interest.
The pilot walked down the
aisle, through the door, and
into the cockpit, singing "I’m
leaving, on a jet plane."
paralleling rather long
subordinate clauses helps
hold the sentence clearly in
your head


These critics--who point out the beauties of style
and ideas, who discover the faults of false
constructions, and who discuss the application of
the rules--usually help a lot in engendering an
understanding of the writer's essay.
When, at the conclusion of a prolonged episode
of agonizing thought, you decide to buy this car;
when, after a hundred frantic sessions of begging
stone faced bankers for the money, you can
obtain sufficient funds; and when, after two more
years of impatience and frustration, you finally get
a driver's license, then come see me and we will
talk about a deal.
parallel participle, infinitive,
and gerund phrases:
 He
left the engine on, idling
erratically and heating rapidly.
 To think accurately and to write
precisely are interrelated goals.
 She liked sneaking up to Tim and
putting ice down his back,
because he was so cool about it.
The parallelism, while it
normally should be pretty
close, does not have to be
exact in its syntactical
similarity.
He
ran up to the bookshelves,
grabbed a chair standing nearby,
stepped painfully on his tiptoes,
and pulled the fifty-pound volume
on top of him, crushing his ribs and
impressing him with the power of
knowledge.
Identify the parallel structure in
the sentence below:
 "We
hold these truths to be self-evident,
that all men are created equal, that they
are endowed by their Creator with
certain unalienable rights, that among
these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of
Happiness."
(The Declaration of Independence, 1776)
Identify the parallel structure in
the sentence below:

"With malice toward none, with charity for all,
with firmness in the right as God gives us to
see the right, let us strive on to finish the work
we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to
care for him who shall have borne the battle
and for his widow and his orphan, to do all
which may achieve and cherish a just and
lasting peace among ourselves and with all
nations."
(Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address,
1865)
Identify the parallel structure in
the sentence below:
 "This
great Nation will endure as it has
endured, will revive, and will prosper. So,
first of all, let me assert my firm belief that
the only thing we have to fear is fear itself
- nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror
which paralyzes needed efforts to convert
retreat into advance."
(Franklin D. Roosevelt, First Inaugural
Address)
Rewrite the following examples so
they show better parallel structure.

"I require three things in a man. He must be handsome, ruthless
to others, and show stupidity."
(Dorothy Parker)

"You are talking to a man who has laughed at death, sneers
while in doom, and is chuckling during catastrophe."
(The Wizard in The Wizard of Oz, 1939)

"Tell me and I might forget. If you teach me I remember.
Involve me and I can learn."
(Benjamin Franklin)

"Be sincere, use brevity, sit."
(Franklin D. Roosevelt's advice to speakers)
"Eye it, test it out, make the purchase."
(Slogan for Chevrolet, 1940s)

Here’s a few more:

"What a time we had: splashed through bogs, ate
as if we were pigs, and then we slept like logs."
(Holling Vincoeur, Northern Exposure)

"The key to Springfield has always been Elm Street.
The Greeks knew it. The Carthaginians also
understood it. Now you are aware too." (Herman,
"Bart the General," The Simpsons)

"I think we've all arrived at a very special place. As
spiritual beings, ecumenically, and in grammar."
(Jack Sparrow, Pirates of the Caribbean)
Check your work

"I require three things in a man. He must be handsome, ruthless, and stupid."
(Dorothy Parker)

"You are talking to a man who has laughed at death, sneered at doom, and chuckled at
catastrophe."
(The Wizard in The Wizard of Oz, 1939)

"Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn."
(Benjamin Franklin)

"Be sincere, be brief, be seated."
(Franklin D. Roosevelt's advice to speakers)

"Eye it, try it, buy it."
(Slogan for Chevrolet, 1940s)

"What a time we had: splashed through bogs, ate like hogs, slept like logs."
(Holling Vincoeur, Northern Exposure)

"The key to Springfield has always been Elm Street. The Greeks knew it. The Carthaginians
knew it. Now you know it."
(Herman, "Bart the General," The Simpsons)

"I think we've all arrived at a very special place. Spiritually, ecumenically, grammatically."
(Jack Sparrow, Pirates of the Caribbean)
Advanced Forms of Parallelism
 Anaphora:
repetition of the same word
group or group of words at the beginning
of successive clauses
Example:
“We shall go to the end, we shall fight in
France, we shall fight in the seas and
oceans…” Winston Churchill
Asyndeton
o
Deliberate omission of conjunctions in a
series of related clauses
o
Example: “Speed up the film, Montag!
Quick! Click! Pop! Look! Eye! Now!....”Ray Bradbury Fahrenheit 451
Antimetabole
A
sentence strategy (a form of chiasmus)
in which the arrangement of ideas in the
second clause is a reversal of the first. The
same words are used BUT in reversed
order. The direct object of the subject is
reversed. This is not the case in chiasmus.
(More on this later)
Example: “We didn’t land on Plymouth
Rock, Plymouth Rock landed on us.” –
Malcom X
More on antimebtabole
The same words are used but in reverse order
Example: “Ask not what you can do for your
country but what your country can do for you.”
 Often contains two independent clauses
Example: “Starkist doesn't want tuna with a
good taste, it wants tuna to taste good.”
 The meaning of words does not change
Example: “I mean what I said and I said what I
mean.”

Polysyndeton
 Deliberate
use of many conjunctions for
special emphasis- to highlight quantity or
mass of detail or to create a flowing,
continuous sentence pattern.
Example: “He pulled the blue plastic tarp off
him and folded it and carried it out to the
grocery cart and packed it and came
back.” Cormac McCarthy The Road
Stichomythia

Dialogue in which the endings and
beginnings of each line echo each other,
taking on a new meaning with each new line
Example: QUEEN: Hamlet, thou hast thy father
much offended.
HAMLET: Mother, you have my father much
offended.
QUEEN: Come, come, you answer with an idle
tongue.
HAMLET: Go, go, you question with a wicked
tongue.
Zeugma
 The
use of a verb that has two different
meanings with objects that complement
both meanings.
Example: She lost her temper and her keys.
Antithesis
 The
juxtaposition of sharply contrasting
ideas in balanced or parallel words,
phrases, grammatical structure or ideas.
Example: Love is an ideal thing, marriage is
a real thing.
Chiasmus
 The
order of modifiers, terms or simply
sentence structure in the first half of a
parallel clause is reversed in the second.
Example: “In the end the true test is not the
speeches a president delivers, it’s whether
the president delivers on the speeches.”
-Hillary Clinton
More on Chiasmus
Order of words is reversed for literary effect
Example: A mind is a terrible thing to waste but
a waist is a terrible thing to mind.
 Can be implied
Example: “Times are fun when you’re having
flies.”-Kermit the Frog
 Changes the sound and structure of words
Example: I’d rather have a bottle in front of me
than a frontal lobotomy.

Isocolon
 Parallel
structure in which the parallel
elements are similar not only in
grammatical structure but also in length.
Example: “I’m a Pepper, she’s a Pepper,
we’re a Pepper. Wouldn’t you like to be a
Pepper too? – Dr. Pepper commercial circa
1980 something
Ephanalepsis

Repeats the beginning word of a clause or
sentence at the end. The beginning and end
are two positions of strongest emphasis, so
special attention is called by having the same
word in both places.
Example: “The man who did the waking buys
the man who was sleeping a drink, the man
who was sleeping drinks it while listening to a
proposition from the man who did the waking.”
Jack Sparrow Pirates of the Caribbean
Practice: Identify the type of
parallelism in each sentence.
1. From The Bible: “Many are called, but few are chosen.”
2. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the
landing-grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the
streets, we shall fight in the hills. (Winston Churchill).
3. “To err is human, to forgive divine” – Alexander Pope
4. “He thinks I am a fool. A fool, perhaps I am”
And a few more….
5. Hamlet: Now mother, what’s the matter?
Queen: Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.
Hamlet: Mother, you have my father much offended
Queen: Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue
Hamlet: Go, go you question with a wicked tongue.
6. “He stole both her car and her heart that fateful night.”
7. “The meal was huge: my mother fixed okra and green
beans and ham and apple pie and green pickled
tomatoes and ambrosia salad and all manner of fine
country food—but no matter how I tried, I could not
consume it to her satisfaction.”
Wait, we’re not done!
8. “Ask not what your country can do for you;
ask what you can do for your country.” (JFK)
9. “I came, I saw, I conquered.” (Julius Caesar)
10. To report that your committee is still
investigating the matter is to tell me that you
have nothing to report.