Grammarly explains that, in writing, parallelism refers to balance and equality. In order for the reader to understand what the writer means, the words must make sense in time and space. If you start talking about one thing one way, you can’t – mid-sentence – switch to talking about something else a different way.
Example (incorrect): Not only will pedestrians become more insensitive, they will become passive, act impolitely, and egocentric.
Example (correct): Not only will pedestrians become more insensitive, they will become passive, impolite, and egocentric.
The following resources explain parallelism in detail:
| Website | Page Name | Comments |
| Grammarly | Parallelism in Writing | A simple and concise explanation of this topic. |
| My English Pages | Definition & Rules of Parallelism | A somewhat more detailed explanation of this topic than the preceding page. |
| Guide to Grammar & Writing | Parallel Form | Explanation with quizzes to test your competency on this topic. |
| Purdue Owl | Parallel Structure | Advanced explanations. |
| WikiPedia | Parallelism | Advanced. This explanation is best suited for students in that are required to do advanced compositions. |
| YouTube (Smrt English) | Parallel Structure of Parallelism | This video is on parallelism. Students learn what parallel structure is, why it is important, and how to recognize problems in their own writing. After the video, students will be able to write grammatically parallel sentences. |
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