Parallelism with verbals ensures that verbs and verbals (infinitives, gerunds, and participles) in a sentence have the same grammatical structure. This creates balance and clarity in your writing. When listing actions or describing multiple aspects of something, maintaining parallelism makes your sentences more elegant and easier to understand. It's about making sure all the elements in a series are in the same form.
For example, instead of saying "I like to read, hiking, and that I swim," you should say "I like to read, to hike, and to swim" or "I like reading, hiking, and swimming." Notice how each item in the series maintains the same grammatical form. Let's practice!
Match the term with its definition:
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| 1. Gerund | A. A verb form ending in -ing that functions as a noun. |
| 2. Infinitive | B. A verb form that functions as an adjective, often ending in -ing or -ed. |
| 3. Participle | C. The base form of a verb preceded by 'to'. |
| 4. Parallelism | D. Similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses. |
| 5. Verbal | E. A verb form functioning as a noun, adjective, or adverb. |
Complete the paragraph with the correct form of the verbals to maintain parallelism:
Sarah enjoys (1. read) __________, (2. hike) __________, and (3. swim) __________ in her free time. Her goals include (4. learn) __________ a new language, (5. travel) __________ to Europe, and (6. become) __________ a better cook. She spends her weekends (7. volunteer) __________ at the local shelter and (8. help) __________ others.
Why is parallelism important in writing, and how does it improve clarity and readability?
Please log in to post your answer.
Log InEarn 2 Points for answering. If your answer is selected as the best, you'll get +20 Points! 🚀