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ClearTips: Edit yourself
9. Parallel Constructions
Words and groups of words that do the same work are easier
to read if they aresimilar (parallel) in grammatical construction.
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NOT PARALLEL
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PARALLEL
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| Aides on Capitol Hill talk about running
the country and the manipulation of constituents. |
CHANGE TO
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Aides on Capitol Hill talk about running
the country and manipulating constituents. |
| Many Americans think that the media are
attentive to insignificant details but that deeper issues are ignored.
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CHANGE TO
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Many Americans think that the media are
attentive to insignificant details but not to deeper issues. |
One red flag for the sameness of function is a coordinating
conjunction—an and, but, for,
or nor—which by definition joins words, phrases,
and clauses that have the same function or similar functions.
Another red flag is a pair of correlative conjunctions:
both—and; either—or;
whether—or; not only—but
also. The words and groups of words that follow each
part of the pair should be parallel in construction. The
construction of sentences presenting similar facts or ideas
should be parallel, too, as should any recurring sentence
parts.
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