Have you ever written a report or business letter and felt something was missing, but you couldn’t figure it out? It might be that you didn’t think to express parallel thoughts in parallel form.
Parallelism is very helpful when you’re creating documents that have items bulleted and numbered. It helps the reader quickly grasp your meaning. Example: read the items in the first group, then the second group, and decide which is more understandable.
This report covers:
- How to manage employee absenteeism.
- Handling problem employees.
- What the role of the supervisor should be.
This report helps supervisors to:
- Manage employee absenteeism.
- Handle problem employees.
- Function in the business environment.
Those three action words (manage, handle, and function) help organize the thoughts into parallel areas.
It also helps if you use parallel structure in long sentences.
WRONG: Safeway has begun implementing a new area of promotion and to produce a bigger market share.
RIGHT: Safeway has begun implementing a new area of promotion and producing a bigger market share.
WRONG: The software is inexpensive, easy to use, and it’s powerful.
RIGHT: The software is inexpensive, easy to use, and powerful.
If you get stuck, contact me!