Parallelism


Parallelism is stating ideas or using phrases that are parallel, or rather that run side by side. We use parallelism to help us organize our ideas, and come more clearly across to others.

For example, if my thesis for a paper was “The government should establish stricter gun laws”,

My three key points could be as follows

Good Example of Parallelism:

1.      Because Guns create danger to the public
2.      Because Guns create fear in citizens
3.      Because Guns create bad ideas in children

Bad Example of Parallelism

1.      We are harmed by guns                                                            
2.      Because the government is being put at risk
3.      Because we cannot be benifited from guns

We do not always have to use the same verb in our parallel ideas, but the ideas should be easy to understand and group together.

To make parallelism even more powerful in your speaking, use active voice.

Active voice-  The Subject of the sentece is doing the action

Passive voice- The subject of the sentence is receiving the action.

In the examples above, the first 3 sentences use "create" in active voice to describe what guns are doing.  The next two sentences, we see passive voice, which makes for a weaker sentence. 


Parallelism is key in becoming a top-notch speaker.

To learn more about parallelism, visit the link
http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/grammar/parallelism.html