In the preceding six chapters, we reviewed the various types of parallelism when constructing sentences.
We saw how using the same function words can match and balance the clauses and phrases in a compound sentence. We likewise studied how presenting ideas in parallel not only emphasizes that they are equally important, but also clarifies the point that we are making about them.
This time, we will see how parallelism can be pursued beyond the sentence level to make writing clearer and more forceful, and language more elegant and pleasing to the ears.
But don’t wrongly assume to aim for parallelism only for such elaborate pieces as expository writing or speeches. Parallel structures are also needed for such mundane requirements as tables of contents and résumé listings.
In the sample table of contents below, for instance, note the meticulous parallelism in the consistent use of noun phrases for the headings in the first level, gerunds for the headings in the second, and simple nouns in the third.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. Our Uses and Misuses of English [noun phrase]
A. Mastering the Parts of Speech [gerund phrase]
1. Nouns [noun]
2. Pronouns [noun]
3. Verbs [noun]
4. Adjectives [noun]
5. Adverbs [noun]
6. Prepositions [noun]
7. Conjunctions [noun]
8. Determiners [noun]
B. Grappling with the Language [gerund phrase]
1. Academese [noun]
2. Legalese [noun]
3. Gobbledygook [noun]
4. Clichés [noun]
II. Our Grasp of English Usage and Style [noun phrase]
A. Constructing Sentences [gerund phrase]
1. Structure [noun]
2. Logic [noun]
B. Acquiring Style [gerund phrase]
1. Form [noun]
2. Technique [noun]
III. Our Familiarity with English Idioms [noun phrase]
When a table of contents is organized along such parallel lines, readers can follow the logic and flow of ideas much more easily — even if those ideas aren’t expressed in complete sentences.
Now, let’s see how parallel structures can likewise make our résumés clearer and more persuasive. Below, under “Work Experience,” note that the titles for skills are consistently stated as gerunds, and those for work descriptions as verb phrases:
WORK EXPERIENCE
1. Writing and Editing: [gerunds]
• Produced news and feature stories for the company magazine [verb phrase]
• Researched and drafted speeches for the CEO [verb phrase; not, say, “Researching and drafting speeches for the CEO,” which are gerund phrases]
• Developed scripts for special occasions and organized events [verb phrase; not, say, “Scripts for special company occasions and organized events,” which is a noun phrase]
2. Coordinating Events: [gerund]
• Acted as company spokesman for the mass media [verb phrase, consistent with the first item under “Writing and Editing”]
• Represented the company in major public forums [verb phrase; not, say, “Company representative in major forums,” which is a noun phrase]
Given its effectiveness in focusing ideas and in giving symmetry to language, it shouldn’t be surprising that parallelism is a very powerful tool for achieving clarity and for evoking feeling in expository prose.
Tug of emotion
Feel the elegant sweep and quiet tug of emotion in this passage from “The Night Country” by the American literary naturalist Loren Eiseley:
In some of us a child — lost, strayed off the beaten path — goes wandering to the end of time while we, in another garb, grow up, marry or seduce, have children, hold jobs, or sit in movies, and refuse to answer our mail. Or, by contrast, we haunt our mailboxes, impelled by some strange anticipation of a message that will never come.
Consummate
Even more consummate in pursuing parallelism was the English historian Edward Gibbon. Take a look at this superb passage from his “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”:
There are two very natural propensities [that] we may distinguish in the most virtuous and liberal dispositions, the love of pleasure and the love of action. If the former is refined by art and learning, improved by the charms of social intercourse, and corrected by a just regard to economy, to health, and to reputation, it is productive of the greatest part of the happiness of private life. The love of action is a principle of a much stronger and more doubtful nature. It often leads to anger, to ambition, and to revenge; but when it is guided by the sense of propriety and benevolence, it becomes the parent of every virtue, and, if those virtues are accompanied with equal abilities, a family, a state, or an empire may be indebted for their safety and prosperity to the undaunted courage of a single man. To the love of pleasure we may therefore ascribe most of the agreeable, to the love of action we may attribute most of the useful and respectable, qualifications. The character in which both the one and the other should be united and harmonized would seem to constitute the most perfect idea of human nature.
Having seen the many wonders that parallelism can do, we now have every reason to pursue it more vigorously in our own writing.
This essay, which first appeared in my weekly column “English Plain and Simple” in The Manila Times, subsequently became Chapter 87 of my book Giving Your English the Winning Edge 2009 by the Manila Times Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.
Visit Jose Carillo’s English Forum, http://josecarilloforum.com. Follow him on Facebook and X (Twitter), or e-mail at [email protected]