DTW GED PREP

Mastering Parallel Structure in Writing

Parallel structure (also known as parallelism) refers to using the same grammatical form for elements that are part of a list or series in a sentence. Maintaining parallel structure improves clarity, rhythm, and readability—all essential skills for effective communication and for succeeding on the GED® Reasoning Through Language Arts test.

Why Parallel Structure Matters

When elements in a sentence are not in the same grammatical form, the sentence becomes awkward or confusing.

Incorrect (Not Parallel):

The hostess prepared for her party by cooking, cleaning, and to decorate.

In this example, cooking and cleaning are gerunds (verbs ending in -ing used as nouns), but to decorate is an infinitive. This mismatch breaks the parallel structure.

Correct (Parallel):

The hostess prepared for her party by cooking, cleaning, and decorating.

Now, all verbs are in the gerund form (cooking, cleaning, decorating), which makes the structure smooth and grammatically consistent.

Parallel Structure Beyond Verbs

Parallelism doesn’t only apply to verbs—it also applies to nouns, phrases, and clauses.

Incorrect (Not Parallel):

They spent the spring, summer, and the fall together studying frog behaviors.

The article the is not used consistently.

Correct (Parallel):

They spent spring, summer, and fall together studying frog behaviors.

All three seasons are presented in the same form without repetition of the, resulting in clear, balanced structure.

1.5 PARALLEL STRUCTURE

Directions: Write C in front of the sentence in each pair that is correctly written and more clearly expressed.

    __________ 1a. It is more important to be healthy than to have wealth.
    __________ 1b. It is more important to be healthy than wealthy.

    __________ 2a. Marion is happy as long as she has clothes, food, and books.
    __________ 2b. Marion is happy as long as she has clothes, food to eat, and can read books.

1.5 PARALLEL STRUCTURE

1a vs. 1b

 Correct Answer: C 1b. It is more important to be healthy than wealthy.

Explanation:
Sentence 1b is more concise and avoids redundancy by using parallel structure: “to be healthy” is parallel with “wealthy.” In contrast, sentence 1a says “to have wealth,” which breaks the parallel structure. Clear, grammatically correct comparisons require consistency in structure.

2a vs. 2b

 Correct Answer: C 2a. Marion is happy as long as she has clothes, food, and books.

Explanation:
Sentence 2a is concise, clear, and parallel: all three items (clothes, food, and books) are presented as nouns in a simple list. Sentence 2b disrupts the parallelism by saying “food to eat” and “can read books,” mixing verb phrases with nouns. This makes the sentence unnecessarily wordy and less fluid.