Ineffective Structural Alignment in Scholarly Writing: An Examination of Flawed Parallelism and Its Variations
Ensuring Parallelism in Academic Writing Critical for Clarity and Impact
Good academic writing is built upon a foundation of grammatical agreement, a principle known as parallelism. Parallelism, parallel structure, or parallel construction strengthens sentences and ideas, making them easier to understand and more persuasive. It is particularly important in scientific writing as it emphasizes the relationship between ideas and presents comparisons or contrasts efficiently.
Parallels can involve repeating exact words, as seen in phrases such as "I came, I saw, I conquered," or echoing the construction or meaning of a pattern. Think of parallelism as a rhetorical or stylistic device that highlights the meaning of sentences or expresses multiple ideas in a series of similar structures, much like poets or orators use it.
Faulty parallelism can lead to unbalanced or disconnected writing, making it essential to master this skill for effective communication. In the following sections, we'll examine the importance and types of parallelism, as well as identify and correct faulty parallelisms.
The Importance of Parallelism in Academic Writing
Parallelism simplifies sentence structures, making it easier for writers to present their ideas and results in an engaging manner. It emphasizes the relationship between two or more ideas, creating a sense of rhythm and balance in complex comparisons or contrasts. Furthermore, parallel structure improves readability and clarity by providing a logical connection between and within sentences.
Types of Parallelism
Word Level Parallelism
Involves cases of superlative degree comparison, past perfect tense, infinitive, and gerund. Ensure paired nouns with nouns, verbs with verbs, prepositional phrases with prepositional phrases, and so on to maintain parallelism at the word level.
Faulty Parallelism:
He likes reading books and to watch television.
Correct Gerund:
He likes reading books and watching television.
Correct Infinitive Phrase:
He likes to read books and watch television.
Phrase Level Parallelism
Includes parallel configurations in noun, verb, prepositional, adjectival, and adverbial phrases. Make verbs agree in tense and phrasing to avoid faulty parallelism.
Faulty Parallelism:
Her responsibilities included answering client calls, filing data, and to conduct visitor surveys.
Parallel:
Her responsibilities included answering client calls, filing data, and conducting visitor surveys.
Clause Level Parallelism
Achieved at the clause level by ensuring a group of words that contains a verb (a clause) maintains the same type (adverb, noun, and adjective clauses).
Faulty Parallelism:
The coach told the players that they should get a lot of sleep and to do some warm-up exercises before the game.
Parallel:
The coach told the players that they should get a lot of sleep and that they should do some warm-up exercises before the game.
Faulty Parallelism: Meaning and Identification
Faulty parallelism occurs when the writer lacks consistency in a sentence's parts, causing confusion. The following four features can help identify faulty parallelisms:
- The two items in the parallelism are not of the same type.
- The two items in the parallelism are not of equal weight.
- The two items in the parallelism are not of equal length.
- There is no logical connection between the two items.
For example, consider the sentence:
The boy was elected school leader for his charisma and intelligence, but he was also known for his integrity.
By rephrasing the sentence, we can maintain coherence and clarity:
The boy was elected school leader for his charisma and integrity, but he was also known for his intelligence.
Correcting Faulty Parallelism
Pay attention to long sentences with multiple ideas, and revisit those to ensure proper parallelism. Ensure that related items in a sentence begin with the same part of speech, whether it be adverb, adjective, or noun. Keep all items in a list after a colon in the same form, and make adjectives and other descriptions consistent.
By following these tips, you can avoid faulty parallelism in your academic writing, ensuring well-structured and efficient communication that resonates with readers.
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- A research paper benefits from careful language editing and academic translation to ensure parallelism, enhancing clarity and impact, which are essential for effective communication in the world of education and self-development.
- Writing support combined with a thorough understanding of academic writing, submission readiness checks, and utilizing resources like grammar tools can help avoid faulty parallelisms, improving the readability and persuasiveness of academic translations.
- Mastering various levels of parallelism, including word level, phrase level, and clause level, through learning and practice is key to demonstrating competence in academic writing, translation, and editing.
- The awareness of common faulty parallelisms and the ability to identify and correct them fosters the development of skills in academic writing, academic translation, and learning, making the writing process more straightforward and the final product more impactful.
