Unit Seven Joining Parallel Structures
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The coordinators and, or, and but can join parts of sentences;
the sentence parts are called parallel because they are similar grammatical
structures that express similar ideas. The parallel structures in the sentences
below are underlined:
Shauna and Lisa watch
movies every weekend.
Shauna laughs or cries
all during the films.
Lisa eats popcorn constantly
but quietly.
In the following exercise, you
will be joining sets of sentences like the ones below. (Notice the crossed-out
words; when you join parallel structures, you can be more concise because you
avoid repeating words.) The joining word and, or, or but is given in brackets to tell
you which word to use.
EXAMPLE: Latisha
ate a burrito. [and]
Latisha ate
a taco.
SOLUTION: Latisha ate
a burrito and a taco.
EXAMPLE: Rudy
started the car. [and]
Rudy
backed
out of the driveway.
SOLUTION: Rudy started
the car and backed out of the driveway.
Exercise
One The Decision
1. Sonia was planning to move into the dorms. [or]
Sonia was planning to move into an
apartment with a friend.
2. She listed the benefits of each place. [and]
She listed the drawbacks of each
place.
3. The apartment was close to campus. [and]
The apartment was close to the mall.
4. The dorm fee was more expensive. [but]
It included room and board.
5. She could have her own room in the apartment. [but]
She would have to share a dorm room
with another student.
6. Sonia knew her friend was studious and responsible. [but]
Sonia didn't know what her dorm
roommate would be like.
7. Sonia discussed her options with her parents. [and]
Sonia discussed her options with her
friends.
8. Her parents thought she should wait a year before moving
out. [and]
Her friends agreed.
9. Sonia chose to
reject her parents' advice. [and]
Sonia chose to reject her
friends' advice.
10. She decided to enroll in Clown College. [or]
She decided to at least join the
local circus.
Joining Three or More Parallel Ideas
The coordinators and, or, and but can also join three or more
elements in a sentence; all of the elements should have similar grammatical
structures.
Examples:
Shauna, her
boyfriend, and Lisa watch movies every weekend.
Latisha ate a burrito,
a taco, and a banana split.
Rudy started the car, backed
out of the driveway, and crashed into the potted plant.
Often a series of parallel
structures has descriptive modifiers:
Yesterday I
finished my homework,
took
my sister to the dentist,
cooked
dinner,
and went
to bed at midnight.
The important thing is that
the parallel parts—the verbs finished, took, cooked, and went—all have the same grammatical
structure and can follow the sentence subject—I.
The Cosmic Navy
Combine the following sets of sentences to create one sentence that contains a parallel series of two, three, or four parts. The coordinators are given in brackets.
EXAMPLE: Fenwick joined the Cosmic Navy.
His
sister Sally joined the Cosmic Navy. [and]
His
best friend Morton joined the Cosmic Navy.
SOLUTION: Fenwick,
his sister Sally, and his best friend Morton joined the Cosmic
Navy.
1. They wanted to travel around the world.
They wanted to learn about
different cultures. [and]
They wanted to become
independent.
2. Fenwick thought he could become a captain. [or]
Fenwick thought he could
become an admiral.
3. Morton wanted to make a lot of money. [and]
Morton wanted to meet a
lot of people.
4. Sally wanted experience as a naval engineer. [and]
Sally wanted opportunities
to do undersea photography.
5. Sally became an excellent underwater
photographer.
Sally was promoted to
captain. [and]
Sally began to give orders
to Fenwick and Morton.
6. Fenwick soon realized that he would never become
an admiral. [or]
Fenwick realized that he would
never become a captain. [and]
He grew tired of taking orders.
7. Morton met a lot of people. [and]
Morton made a lot of money. [but]
He didn't have any place to spend it.
8. Fenwick decided to stage a mutiny. [and]
Morton decided to stage a
mutiny. [but]
They disagreed over tactics.
9. Fenwick wanted Morton to disguise himself as a
dolphin.
Fenwick wanted Morton to swim
alongside the ship. [and]
Fenwick wanted Morton to
distract Sally while he took over the ship. [but]
Morton wanted to bribe Sally. [and]
Morton wanted to take command of
the ship himself.
10. Sally discovered their plot. [and]
Sally threatened to give them
galley duty. [or]
She threatened to abandon them
at the next port. [but]
Fenwick promised to pose
underwater for her. [and]
Morton bought everyone a round
of drinks.