Parallel Construction, 4

Today we will finish our discussion on parallel construction.

*Go to the “Options” menu to change the display colors, fonts, type size, set predefined breaks in your program or open the dictionary.
The verb to change only fits the first three items in this series. Since the infinitive form is used, the next two verbs need to have the infinitive as well. And because of the commas in the series, we’ll need to separate the three verb phrases with semicolons—an acceptable use of semicolons to avoid confusion. Go to the “Options menu to change the display colors, fonts, type size; to set predefined breaks in your program; or to open the dictionary.

Customers may either pick up the merchandise themselves, or the company will deliver it for a small fee.
The word either refers to the customer, implying a choice. But only one choice is given since the subject changes to the company in the second part of the sentence. When using either/or you can check parallelism by using only the second part of the sentence: Customers may either the company will deliver it for a small fee. Okay, that doesn’t make sense *smile*, so let’s try a couple of different options for correcting the problem: Customers may either pick up the merchandise themselves or have it delivered for a small fee. OR Either customers may pick up the merchandise themselves, or the company will deliver it for a small fee.

He not only shoveled the walkway, but also the stairs and balcony.
This is a very common mistake I see often in editing or correcting high school English essays (which I don’t do anymore. *smile*). The contrasted items that come after not only have to be parallel or we end up with this kind of awkward construction. When you put not only before the verb it sets the reader up for another action (i.e. He not only shoveled the walkway, but also salted it.) When the not only/but also combination is used, put not only before the first of the items being contrasted. So if you’re contrasting two actions, put not only before the first action, but also before the second (see example above); if there’s only one action but two objects, put the not only before the first object, but also before the second. He shoveled not only the walkway, but also the stairs and balcony.

The bankruptcy proceedings involved accountants, litigation experts, tax and corporate lawyers.
The word tax is left hanging here. It does describe the type of lawyer used in this bankruptcy proceeding. Grammatically the sentence would read: The bankruptcy proceedings involved accountants, litigation experts, and tax. Okay, that obviously doesn’t work. Yes, we would ordinarily say tax and corporate lawyers if those are the only people being referred to. But since that is not the case in this sentence and the and implies the last element of a series is corporate lawyers, we’ve got to rewrite this sentence. Try either: The bankruptcy proceedings involved accountants, litigation experts, tax lawyers, and corporate lawyers. OR The bankruptcy proceedings involved accountants, litigation experts, and tax and corporate lawyers.

The stocky and self-confessed plagiarist showed no emotion as the charges against him were read out in court.
Okay, the explanation as to why this isn’t parallel is way out there, even for me! So here’s what the author gives as an explanation: “The adjectives stocky and self-confessed are not equivalent. Stocky can stand alone: A person can simple be described as stocky, the way he or she can be described as dark haired, athletic, grouchy, left-handed, etc. But one cannot be simply “self-confessed”: By definition, one has to be a self-confessed something—a drug dealer, an adulterer, a chocoholic. Self-confessed is thus tied to the noun that follows, and the string self-confessed plagiarist effectively become a unit, leaving stocky without anything to latch onto. Grammatically, it is as if the sentence read The stocky and plagiarist showed no emotion, which clearly doesn’t work. Removal of the and solves the problem, since stocky then becomes a modifier of the unit self-confessed plagiarist.” (But don’t put a comma between stocky and self-confessed in the string of adjectives because that would create the same problem. The "need" to put a comma in there is what tripped me up on this sentence.) So here is the corrected version: The stocky self-confessed plagiarist showed no emotion as the charges against him were read out in court.

The text editing program enables you to do the following:
—change the background color of your screen
—to select different fonts
—cutting and pasting text
—creation of complex layouts.
The items in a list must be written the same way to be parallel. Also since each element must mesh with the lead-in. Each element with the lead-in must form a coherent sentence. So try the following:
The text editing program enables you to do the following:
—change the background color of your screen
—select different fonts
—cut and paste text
—create complex layouts.

(*I’m taking these examples from Grammatically Correct by Anne Stillman.)

I hope that this presentation of parallel construction helps you create better sentences that read smoothly and give the right meaning to your readers.

If you have a suggestion for another grammar topic for me to cover, please leave a comment.


Daily Bible reading: Tuesday, February 26—Exodus 23–24; 2 Thessalonians 2