Parallelism

See how Jonathan Franzen uses parallelism in talking about a job:

Since I was paid better than the minimum wage, and since I enjoyed topological packing puzzles, and since the Geyers liked me and gave me lots of cake, it was remarkable how fiercely I hated the job—how I envied even those friends of mine who manned the deep-fry station at Long John Silver’s or cleaned the oil traps at Kentucky Fried Chicken.

The parallelism indicated by the underscores brings a sense of orderliness to a long yet cohesive sentence. Making similar structures parallel will help clarify your writing.

Chapter contents:

Quick Help: Editing for parallelism

Making items in a series parallel

Using parallel structures to pair ideas

Including all necessary words

Using parallel structures for emphasis and effect