Parallelism

When writing a series of words, phrases, or clauses, write the series using parallel grammatical forms. Notice that the items in the following series have different grammatical structures:

We found the new risers have four advantages: (1) easy to set up; (2) They can be moved to performances; (3) storing is easy; (4) more comfortable for performers.

The following revision demonstrates how the four items can be made grammatically equivalent:

We found the new risers have four advantages: (1) easy to set up; (2) simple to move to performances; (3) easy to store; (4) comfortable to stand on.

Here are additional examples of phrases and clauses that should be written in parallel form:

Incorrect:          The secret to good quartet singing is matching vowels and to breathe from the diaphragm.

Correct:          The secret to good quartet singing is matching vowels and breathing from the diaphragm.

Incorrect:          We need a chapter president who is willing to take charge, his personality is outgoing, and if he can delegate responsibility.

Correct:          We need a chapter president who is willing to take charge, who has an outgoing personality, and who can delegate responsibility.

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