Parallel Structure
Parallel shape is a stylistic device, and a grammatical construction having two or greater clauses, terms or phrases, with comparable grammatical shape and length. It is just like parallelism. In parallel structure, sentences have a sequence of terms or clauses, which begin and cease in nearly a comparable fashion, by way of maintaining the rhythm of the lines. These systems are repetitions that provide an enjoyable time for the readers to absorb and recognize ideas, facts, and concepts.
Everyday Examples of Parallel Structure
Many humans like riding, hiking, biking, and swimming.
The teacher instructed the scholars that they need to get up early within the morning, that they need to sleep properly, and that they want to eat properly.
The cat runs throughout the garden, jumps over to the plant, and actions down the road.
Examples of Parallel Structure in Literature
Example #1: Good Faith (by Jane Smiley)
“I had been quick, and now I became tall. I were thin and quiet and religious, and now I become handsome and muscular. It was Sally 1st earl baldwin of bewdley who delivered me along, instructed me what to wear and do and think and say. She became by no means wrong; she in no way lost her patience. She created me, and whilst she became executed we broke up in a formal sense, but she saved calling me.”
You can see how perfectly the writer has repeated and emphasised the first lines inside the above paragraph. The writer has combined numerous elements, however given them a balance by way of parallel clauses.
Example #2: Goodbye to Forty-Eighth Street (through E.B. White)
“The wheels wheeled, the chairs spun, the cotton candy tinted the faces of children, the intense leaves tinted the woods and hills. A cluster of amplifiers unfold the theme of affection over the whole thing and everybody; the moderate breeze spread the dust over the whole lot and everybody. Next morning, in the Lafayette Hotel in Portland, I went down to breakfast and located May Craig looking solemn at one of the tables and Mr. Murray, the auctioneer, looking joyful at another.”
The above paragraph suggests parallel structures. They no longer best give a balance, but additionally a grace to the passage by improving its readability.
Example #3: Of Studies (by Francis Bacon)
“Read not to contradict and confute; nor to accept as true with and take for granted; nor to find speak and discourse; but to weigh and consider.”
In those lines, the parallel systems use repetition to put emphasis, and help the readers to memorize the sentences without difficulty.
Example #4: Great Expectations (through Charles Dickens)
“A fearful guy, all in coarse grey, with a top notch iron on his leg. A guy with out a hat, and with broken shoes, and with an old rag tied round his head. A man who have been soaked in water, and smothered in mud, and lamed with the aid of stones, and reduce by using flints, and stung with the aid of nettles, and torn through briars… and glared and growled; and whose teeth chattered in his head as he seized me through the chin.”
This excerpt presents a perfect instance of parallel shape, describing a convict who turns into Magwitch. Notice that the primary 3 sentences, which start in a similar way, at the same time as the next phrases comply with another, comparable structure.
Example #5: Still Life with Woodpecker (via Tom Robbins)
“Humanity has advanced, while it has advanced, not because it has been sober, responsible, and cautious, but because it has been playful, rebellious, and immature.”
This is another terrific example of parallel structure. These systems deliver rhythm to sentences and leaving them grammatically balanced.
Example #6: We Real Cool (with the aid of Gwendolyn Brooks)
We actual cool. We
Left school. We
Lurk late. We
Strike straight. We
Sing sin. We
Thin gin. We
Jazz June. We
Die soon.
The parallel structures in this brief poem provide it a touch waltz and jingle feel. Each parallel sentence follows a primary pattern, starting with pronouns and ending with nouns and adverbs, except the first line, which ends up with an adjective.
Function of Parallel Structure
Parallel shape creates fluency in writing and complements readability, because it uses patterns of words in a way that readers can easily comply with, and relate them to each other. It makes language seem refined, specially in writing and advertising. It additionally lends consistency to professional writing, as it presents rhythm and balance that lead the readers to the exact idea, with none misguidance. In addition, parallel structures synchronize, repeat and emphasize the words and mind of the writers.
Popular Literary Devices
- Ad Hominem
- Adage
- Allegory
- Alliteration
- Allusion
- Ambiguity
- Anachronism
- Anagram
- Analogy
- Anapest
- Anaphora
- Anecdote
- Antagonist
- Antecedent
- Antimetabole
- Antithesis
- Aphorism
- Aposiopesis
- Apostrophe
- Archaism
- Archetype
- Argument
- Assonance
- Biography
- Cacophony
- Cadence
- Caricature
- Catharsis
- Characterization
- Cliché
- Climax
- Colloquialism
- Comparison
- Conflict
- Connotation
- Consonance
- Denotation
- Deus Ex Machina
- Dialect
- Dialogue
- Diction
- Didacticism
- Discourse
- Doppelganger
- Double Entendre
- Ellipsis
- Epiphany
- Epitaph
- Essay
- Ethos
- Eulogy
- Euphemism
- Evidence
- Exposition
- Fable
- Fallacy
- Flash Forward
- Foil
- Foreshadowing
- Genre
- Haiku
- Half Rhyme
- Hubris
- Hyperbaton
- Hyperbole
- Idiom
- Imagery
- Induction
- Inference
- Innuendo
- Internal Rhyme
- Irony
- Jargon
- Juxtaposition
- Limerick
- Line Break
- Logos
- Meiosis
- Memoir
- Metaphor
- Meter
- Mood
- Motif
- Narrative
- Nemesis
- Non Sequitur
- Ode
- Onomatopoeia
- Oxymoron
- Palindrome
- Parable
- Paradox
- Parallelism
- Parataxis
- Parody
- Pathetic Fallacy
- Pathos
- Pentameter
- Persona
- Personification
- Plot
- Poem
- Poetic Justice
- Point of View
- Portmanteau
- Propaganda
- Prose
- Protagonist
- Pun
- Red Herring
- Repetition
- Rhetoric
- Rhyme
- Rhythm
- Sarcasm
- Satire
- Simile
- Soliloquy
- Sonnet
- Style
- Superlative
- Syllogism
- Symbolism
- Synecdoche
- Synesthesia
- Syntax
- Tautology
- Theme
- Thesis
- Tone
- Tragedy
- Tragicomedy
- Tragic Flaw
- Transition
- Utopia
- Verisimilitude