Quiz 35 · Parallel Structure — The Talking Hands Series

First, the idea

When a sentence puts two or more things in a row — a list, a pair joined by and, or, or but, a comparison with than or as — the reader expects each thing to arrive in the same grammatical form. That expectation is parallel structure. Marisol kneads, shapes, and scores the loaves: three verbs in the same form, one after another. Marisol kneads, shapes, and the loaves are scored: the third item changed form, and the sentence stumbles on it.

The forms that have to match are the ones you met in Quiz 31. A list of nouns stays nouns: flour, salt, and yeast. A list of -ing words stays -ing: kneading, shaping, and scoring. A list of to-verbs stays to-verbs: to knead, to shape, and to score — you may say the to once for all three or once each, but not for some and not for others. A list of clauses stays clauses: the ovens are hot, the trays are out, and the crew is in.

The rule is strictest with the paired words both … and, either … or, neither … nor, and not only … but also. Whatever form follows the first word must follow the second. Either the delivery comes by six or we start the rye late: a clause, then a clause. Either the delivery comes by six or starting the rye late: a clause, then an -ing phrase, and the pair is broken.

The test puts this rule where workplaces put their lists: a job posting's duties, a memo's bullet points, a sign's instructions. Bullets are a list even without the word and. If the first bullet starts with a verb, every bullet starts with a verb. Comparisons count too: She likes baking more than selling matches; She likes baking more than to sell does not.

Think of a tray of rolls coming out of the oven: forty rolls, shaped by the same hands to the same size. The one shaped differently is the one every eye goes to. A list in a sentence is a tray. Parallel structure is the shaping, and the item that breaks the pattern is the odd roll: the reader's eye stops on it, and the meaning waits while they work out what went wrong.

So the check is the tray check. Line the items up, strip away everything that is not the item itself, and look at the shapes. kneads / shapes / the loaves are scored: two verbs and a clause. The odd roll is the third. Reshape it to match the other two, and the tray is done.

The test's favorite hiding place is what this quiz calls the long item: the last item in a list runs on for a dozen words, and somewhere inside it the form changes. By the time you reach the change, your ear has lost the pattern. Strip the long item to its first word or two and compare those.

In everyday speech, nobody minds. We need flour, sugar, and somebody has to call the supplier gets said at every counter in the city, and everyone understands it. The test marks it, and so does a stranger reading a posting, because writing has no voice to carry a list across the break. Quizzes 42 and 57 are where moving between the counter's English and the page's becomes a named strength.

Worked example — thinking out loud

A line from a draft job posting: The night baker is responsible for mixing the doughs, shaping the loaves, and the ovens must be cleaned before six. Tray check: strip each item to its shape. mixing / shaping / the ovens must be cleaned. Two -ing phrases and a whole clause. The odd roll is the third, and notice where it hides: it is the long item, and it opens with a noun, the ovens, so your ear has given up the pattern before the verb even arrives. Reshape it: cleaning the ovens before six. Now the tray reads mixing, shaping, cleaning.

The tempting wrong repair goes the other way: reshape the first two items to match the third. The doughs are mixed, the loaves are shaped, and the ovens must be cleaned before six. That is parallel, three clauses, so it is not wrong. But it is three clauses where three short phrases did the job, and it lost the sentence's subject: the posting is about what the night baker does, and the baker has disappeared from it. Legal, not best. Match the majority, keep the shortest form that holds the meaning, and keep the sentence's subject in charge.

☞ You are back on the sentence-structure trail after the detour through punctuation. Behind you: Quiz 31 (the forms themselves — clause, phrase, the -ing and to shapes), Quiz 34 (combining — the joining words that make pairs and lists), and Quiz 43 (the commas between the items; this quiz is about the items). Ahead: Quiz 36 (modifiers — the other way a sentence's parts end up out of line) and Quiz 42 (wordiness — the tray check also turns up the words that are not earning their place).

Part B · The skill in the wild

Marisol's draft of the bakery's first job posting in years: the night shift she used to work, now hers to fill. Five decision points. At each dropdown, choose the version whose items are all shaped alike. Decision point 4 offers two grammatical versions; choose the one whose two halves share a form.

OKAFOR'S BAKERY — Help Wanted: Night Baker

Okafor's Bakery is hiring a night baker who can 1(a. mix doughs, shaping loaves, and keep the ovens clean. / b. mix doughs, shape loaves, and keep the ovens clean. / c. mix doughs, shape loaves, and the ovens kept clean.) Hours are 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., Tuesday through Saturday.

The right person is 2(a. reliable, careful, and comfortable working alone. / b. reliable, careful, and works well alone. / c. reliable, careful, and someone who can work alone.) Experience matters more than a résumé: we want someone who has baked bread for at least two years, 3(a. either at home or working in a shop. / b. either at home or a shop they worked in. / c. either at home or in a shop.)

We offer steady hours, paid sick days, and a share of the morning's first loaves. To apply, 4(a. stop by the counter between seven and ten, or call the shop and ask for Marisol. / b. stop by the counter between seven and ten, or you can call the shop and ask for Marisol. / c. stopping by the counter between seven and ten, or call the shop and ask for Marisol.)

We are looking for someone who wants to 5(a. learn the breads, running the shift, and stay. / b. learn the breads, run the shift, and stay. / c. learn the breads, run the shift, and who will stay.) We have been baking on this corner a long time, and we plan to keep at it.

The key — and why the tempting answers tempt

Part A

1. C. Three verbs in the same form: greets, rings up, restocks. A tempts because each piece of it is a fine sentence on its own. Line them up: two things Daniela does, then a thing that happens to the case. The subject changed hands in the third item. B is the -ing slip: ringing sounds like the action continuing, so the ear lets it through.

2. A. Three comparisons of the same shape: faster, quieter, cheaper. C tempts because costing less is short and sounds active. But the other two items are comparing words, and costing is not. D breaks the pattern in the first item: fast cannot be followed by than.

3. D. Either was followed by a clause, so or is followed by a clause: the rye starts late. A and B each make sense as English, which is what makes them tempting. The paired words do not care whether the second half makes sense; they care whether it matches the first.

4. B. To train and to see: the pair keeps its form. C is legal, a whole second clause, and nobody would stumble over it aloud. But the sentence began a pair, and the pair asked for a matching half. Legal is not best. A tempts because seeing is the form people reach for after and; check what came before the and, not after.

5. C. After can, the first two items are bare verbs: lift, work. The third restarts with who has. Drop the who and the tray is full: lift, work, and have. D is the long item doing its work. A dozen words after the last comma, and the change of form sits at the front of them, where the ear has already given up. Strip the third item to its first two words and compare.

6. B. Two instructions, wipe and turn off, and one item that describes a finished state. Reshape it: wash the trays. D tempts because everyone knows a sign is not a sentence. Fragments are allowed on a sign; matching is still expected, and the test treats a list of bullets exactly as it treats a list in a sentence. On a hand-lettered sign nobody minds. In a posting or a memo, a stranger does.

Part B — the job posting

1. b. Three bare verbs after can: mix, shape, keep. Option a slips shaping into the middle, where the -ing passes for motion continuing. Option c does what the long item does, at short length: the subject changes to the ovens, and the verb form goes with it.

2. a. Three words describing the person: reliable, careful, comfortable. Option b tells what the person does, not what the person is; the shape changed from describing to doing. Option c renames the whole person halfway down the list.

3. c. Either at home or in a shop: a place, then a place. Option a tempts because working in a shop is exactly what the writer means. It is still doing, not a place, and the paired words demand the same shape on both sides of the or.

4. a. Two instructions in the same form: stop by, or call. Option b is legal, a second clause after or, but the first half gives an instruction and the second half describes a choice: two ways to apply, told two ways. Legal is not best. Option c opens with stopping, which is not an instruction at all.