Take a QUIZ on Parallel Structure! - Advanced English Grammar

Hi everyone. I'm Jennifer from English with Jennifer. If you've watched

a lot of my lessons, you probably know some of my interests. Playing the piano

is something I've tried to keep up with over the years. But I've explored

and experimented. At different points in my life, I learned

a bit of taekwondo, origami, and I even signed up for

Hawaiian dance classes.

Take a look at my last sentence. Perhaps it

sounded okay in the flow of speech, but now that you see it in writing,

you may find a weakness in the structure. Focus on the three interests I named.

Do you see them?

Taekwondo. Origami. Hawaiian dance.

The clearest way to list items is to use parallel structure. That means that all

the items in the list should be grammatically

equal. If I'm going to list three things I

learned, I can list three nouns or noun phrases.

Those are all objects of the verb "learn."

Watch how I rewrite the statement. At different points in my life,

I learned a bit of taekwondo, origami, and Hawaiian dance.

In this lesson, we're going to make sure you can recognize and use

parallel structure. This will make your statements

clear and easy to understand. Parallel structure is especially valued

in writing, whether it's for academic or

professional purposes. We already looked at a series of nouns.

What if I start my list with a couple of gerunds?

How do I create parallel structure?

Focus on the verb "perform" and change it to a gerund.

I enjoyed learning forms in taekwondo, folding paper flowers, and performing

hula dances.

Can you create parallel structure in this statement?

Well, the first item is an infinitive. It was difficult to do what?

To spar, which means to fight with a partner.

Let's focus on the other actions and change

those to infinitives.

To deliver high kicks. To break boards.

IF we create a series a list of infinitives,

we often use "to" only with the first infinitive,

so watch how we can rewrite this.

In my taekwondo classes, I found it difficult to spar with a partner,

deliver high kicks to my opponent's head, and break boards.

Parallel structure is needed when we use coordinating conjunctions,

like AND, OR...and when we use correlative conjunctions,

like "either...or."

Can you identify the parallel structure in each of these statements?

Dancing to beautiful music and performing for an audience is very exciting.

Did you prefer ancient or modern Hawaiian dance?

Origami requires patience, accuracy, and a good memory.

You can either memorize a set of steps or look at a set of instructions.

Both taekwondo and Hawaiian dance require coordination.

Keep in mind that I'm showing you sentences, but we also use

parallel structure in bulleted or numbered lists.

Take a look.

My favorite activities: playing the piano, reading, taking walks with my dog.

Do you know how I'm going to change that last one? I need another

gerund. What do we do with board games? Play. The gerund? Playing.

Playing board games with my children.

My top excuses for not exercising more: I'm busy during the day.

I'd rather do something else with my free time.

I need to change that middle one. Right? The other items are full statements,

sentences with a subject and a verb. So, how about, "I'm too tired at night"?

Maybe you'd like to create your own list in the comments. Before you do, let's

practice some more. I'm going to give you

15-question quiz. Are you ready?

Rewrite each statement using parallel structure.

As a child, I spent a lot of time reading and playing the piano.

My piano teacher spoke kindly and patiently.

OR: with kindness and patience.

For a while, I took both piano lessons and accordion lessons.

OR: took both piano and accordion lessons.

Joining a Filipino association turned out to be a cultural

and social experience. OR: It turned out to be a cultural as

well as social experience.

When I first joined, I knew neither the names of the dances nor the steps.

I not only learned a few different dances, but I also had the opportunity to

perform them.

I took roller skating lessons, but didn't reach a really high level.

I have neither tried nor even considered surfing.

As a girl, I collected stickers, glass bottles, and yo-yos.

As far as drawing went, I was pretty good at looking at a model

and copying it.

I was a cheerleader for eight years, and it helped me: build confidence,

develop a public speaking voice, stay in shape,

and create some great memories.

If I had had the time, I would have continued taekwondo and earned a black belt.

Note here how we can omit the auxiliary verbs and make use of

only the main verb.

For a short time, I learned how to do tarot card readings,

although I doubted that I could predict the future

or that someone would want me to do a reading for them.

It's important to explore new interests because we can get set in our ways

and then become fearful of new things.

By the time I reach old age, I hope I will have danced enough dances,

played enough songs, visited enough places,

seen enough faces, and laughed enough laughs.

How did you do? Do you feel more comfortable and confident with parallel

structure? I hope so. Please like and share this

video if you found it useful. As always, thanks for watching and happy studies!

Thank you to all the members of my channel and, you Super and Truly

Marvelous Members, look out for the next bonus video.

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