Glossary
parallel structure
Parallel structure puts items in a list or a comparison in the same grammatical shape — all nouns, all verbs, or all clauses — so the reader can see the pattern.
Parallel structure is the rule that items joined in a list or a comparison take the same grammatical shape. The role involves charting, dressing changes, and to greet patients mixes two nouns with an infinitive, so the series stumbles; charting, changing dressings, and greeting patients makes all three gerunds and reads as one list.
The same rule governs correlative pairs: both … and, either … or, neither … nor, not only … but also. Each holds two things of the same kind, and the word after the second half must match the word after the first. Both the chart and the medication is parallel; both the chart and for the medication is not.
In a question, parallelism is usually the deciding difference between two answers that both fix the original error — one repairs the flaw and keeps the list matching, the other repairs it and breaks the pattern. Check the shape of every item before you read the choices, and choose the repair that changes the least.
Taught in
Related terms
- clause — A clause is a group of words with its own subject and verb; an independent clause can stand as a sentence, a dependent one cannot.
Source: The grammar guide in this course, whose conventions follow the US Government Publishing Office's Style Manual for standard written American English, with standard grammar references for agreement, case, tense and sentence structure. The GPO manual is US federal government material, not subject to copyright in the United States. Every definition and example above was written for this course; no reference text is reproduced. (GPO Style Manual accessed 2026-10-27; definitions written 2026-10-27)