##  [parallelism with items in a series](/writing-tips-plus/parallelism-with-items-in-a-series)

##  Avertissement

Ce contenu est offert en anglais seulement.

A sentence is parallel when items in a series share the same grammatical structure (when all are nouns or verbs or gerund phrases, for example). Writers use parallelism to help readers see connections between ideas and to emphasize particular points.

## Examples of parallel structure

The following sentences all contain a series of items that are parallel.

- André loves to play *golf, tennis* and *badminton*. \[3 nouns\]
- Larry *drove* to the lake, *parked* and *gazed* out over the water. \[3 verbs\]
- *Reading books, playing the piano* and *going to the theatre* are Mie’s favourite activities. \[3 gerund phrases\]
- The group travelled *by plane, by bus* and *by car*. \[3 prepositional phrases\]

### OR

- The group travelled by *plane, bus* and *car*. \[3 nouns, sharing *by*\]
- Melissa hoped *to graduate from college, to find a job* and *to buy a car*. \[3 infinitive phrases, with *to* repeated\]

### OR

- Melissa hoped to *graduate from college, find a job* and *buy a car*. \[3 infinitive phrases, sharing *to*\]

In these sentences, the parallel structure helps to draw attention to the ideas.

## Faulty parallelism

A sentence with faulty parallel structure is unbalanced and less effective, as the faulty examples below illustrate.

- **Faulty:** Jason made *cake, pie* and *he baked dumplings*. \[2 nouns + 1 clause\]
- **Correct:** Jason made *cake, pie* and *dumplings*. \[3 nouns\]

- **Faulty:** Marisa *has been skiing, jogging* and *has been lifting* weights. \[verb phrase, participle, verb phrase\]
- **Correct:** Marisa *has been skiing, jogging* and *lifting* weights. \[3 participles, sharing *has been*\]

- **Faulty:** The facts were given *with accuracy, clarity* and *with concision*. \[phrase, noun, phrase\]
- **Correct:** The facts were given with *accuracy, clarity* and *concision*. \[3 nouns, sharing *with*\]
- **Correct:** The facts were given *with accuracy, with clarity* and *with concision*. \[3 prepositional phrases\]

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Un outil créé et mis en ligne par le Bureau de la traduction, Services publics et Approvisionnement Canada

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## Liens connexes

- [Writing Tips Plus](/fr/writing-tips-plus/index-fra) (page d’accueil)
- [Outils d’aide à la rédaction](/fr/outils-tools/index-fra)
- [Navigateur linguistique](/fr/navigateur-navigator) (permet de trouver rapidement des conseils linguistiques)
- [TERMIUM Plus®](http://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2alpha/alpha-fra.html?lang=fra)