Hey, everyone, welcome to another English grammar lesson. Today we're going to be covering
a concept called "parallel structure."
So, when you hear the word "parallel," you probably
think of math, right? Like, parallel lines? And the concept here is actually kind of the
same. In math, two lines that are parallel are two lines that follow the same path without
touching and pretty much look the same. And, believe it or not, that's basically the same
way it works with grammar. Parallel structure is when all of the words and phrases in a
sentence follow the same pattern, so to speak—they're written the same way. Let's look at a really
basic example of this: "I enjoy hiking, swimming, and fishing." So, there are three words here
that are all parallel—that are all written the same way: “hiking,” “swimming,”
and “fishing.” They're all written as gerunds, as -ing activities—as things that
you do. So, this is good; this is parallel structure. But what if I did this? “I enjoy
hiking, swimming, and to fish.” Well, now these things are no longer parallel, and my
sentence is wrong. Let's look at another one: "She wants to go to college and get a job."
Now, this is also parallel, but my question for you is what two things are parallel here?
What are the things I’m actually looking at? The answer is "go to college" and "get
a job." Those phrases are both written the same way. "Go to college" is an action, and
"get a job" is an action. And they're both written in the same tense, so we're good.
Let's try a few practice ones… "Joey is studying music, dance, and how to make art."
Now, what three things should be parallel here? Make a decision… Should be these three:
Now, of those three things, which of them are already parallel with each other? Which
ones are already written in the same way? Should have said “music” and “dance.”
So then how do we change this last part? How do we change it so that it sounds just like
"music" and "dance"? Well, "music" is a noun, and "dance" is also a noun, so we should just
say "art"—just “art.” “Joey is studying music, dance, and art.” Next one: "Ben is
a talented singer, is good at speaking, and writer." Okay, so, once again, what things
should be parallel here? Answer is "reader," "is good at speaking," and "writer." Now,
of those three things, which ones are already parallel? Answer is these two. Okay, so how
do we change this middle part to make it parallel with the others? Well, it's actually pretty
simple; we'd just say "speaker." “Ben is a talented reader, speaker, and writer.”
Couple more… "Nick spends his days drinking Mountain Dew, and he eats Doritos." All right—same
question as always: What things should be parallel here? Should have said "drinking
Mountain Dew" and "he eats Doritos." Now, these are clearly not parallel, and since
there are only two of them, you could technically change either one to make it match the other,
but the simplest one to change would be the second part. And what would we change it to?
Well, we have an -ing activity: “drinking Mountain Dew,” so we should change the second
part to match that—to become an -ing activity as well—which means "eating Doritos." Now,
if you wanted to change the first part—if you were really set on that—you could, but
you’d have to change it to something like this: “Nick drinks Mountain Dew, and he
eats Doritos.” But, again, the best way to do it is to keep it as true as possible
to the original sentence—so that would mean changing the second part. Okay, last one:
"I picked up my things, run out the door, got in my car, and drove off." Whew. Yikes.
Okay, longest one so far. But we should already know that each of these four things should
be parallel. The question is are they? Well, let’s think about the tense here: past tense,
present tense, and future tense. Which one of these is not in the same tense as the others?
Well, let’s go one by one. “I picked up my things”; that’s past tense, as in it
already happened. “I run out the door”; ooh, present tense—like right now. “I
got in my car.” Okay, that’s back to past tense. “I drove off.” Hmm, also past tense.
So, it looks like three of our verbs are all in the past tense, which means we need to
change the last one to match the others. So, the questions is how do we make “run”
past tense? Well, simple: We’d change it to “ran.” So, altogether, the correct
sentence reads "I picked up my things, ran out the door, got in my car, and drove off."
Boo ya. Cool! Well, whether you came here for a refresher or are just now learning this
stuff for the first time, I hope this video helped. Be sure to check out the free practice
down in the description, and—uh—we’ll see you next time. Thanks.