Use parallel form to present items as a pair or in a series.

The grammatical similarity of the items in the pair or series strongly signals to the reader that they are equally important, similar in meaning, and related in the same way to the rest of the sentence.

E7-a Each item in a series must follow the same grammatical pattern as the other items.

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Items in a series are usually linked by and or or. Each item should be parallel to the others, presented as a noun, an infinitive, a gerund, or another grammatical form.

E7-b Both items in a pair must follow the same grammatical pattern.

Items in a pair are usually linked by and or or.

E7-c In a comparison using than or as, the items must use the same grammatical form.

In this example, “using force” was not parallel with “abstract consequences,” so the latter has been changed to “threatening abstract consequences.”

E7-d Use parallel form for items joined by correlative conjunctions.

Also position the conjunctions so that each introduces a comparable point.