Use Parallel Structure to Hand Ideas to Your Readers

Repeating the same part of speech can help busy readers understand you faster. This list of adjectives by David Pogue is a breeze to read:

Windows Phone 7.5 is gorgeous, classy, satisfying, fast and coherent.

This list of nouns is almost as easy to follow:

Each [tile] represents something you’ve put there for easy access: an app, a speed-dial entry, a Web page, a music playlist or an e-mail folder.

And these verbs hand readers an easy series of actions:

[The phone is] great at understanding its Big Four commands: Call, Text, Find (on the Web) and Open (an app).

Breakdowns in parallel verb structure are the bane of many business writers (e.g., “I should do four things: call Kim, text Joe, finding my wallet, and open an account”).

It’s necessary to keep verbs in the same tense (“call Kim, text Joe, find my wallet, and open an account”) to help readers zip through your prose.

Write It Well’s book Essential Grammar includes chapters on verbs and sentence structure. We’ve made all the book’s exercises available as a free download here to accompany the e-book, which is now available on Amazon.com!

Do you have an important document but not enough time to clarify your thoughts and double-check your punctuation and grammar? Just use Write It Well’s editing services to make sure your readers follow your ideas and respect your voice.