1. Second Semester Parallel Structure Personal Narrative Essay
Poetry of World War I
Descriptive Essay
Animal Farm and allegory Night by Elie Wiesel
Essay
Absurdism and Existentialism
Macbeth

2. Everything turned out all right. Everything turned out alright.

3. I need to wash my hair everyday. I need to wash my hair every day.

4. My dad walked into my high school. Dad walked into Skyline High School.

5. Pleasure Principle Is the Id

6. Atomic weapons and Lord of the Flies

7. The Albatross metaphor for poets

8. Writing with Concord Parallel Structure
Parallel structure for related ideas
Parallel structure for opposites
Review A
Review B

9. Parallel structure for related ideas
Expressing related ideas in similar forms keeps writing on track.
Like railroad tracks, these similar forms are said to be parallel.
Parallel structure is the arrangement of corresponding parts of a sentence or group of sentences in similar grammatical forms.

10. Parallel structure for related ideas
Some of the greatest speakers and writers have used parallel structure to make their thoughts memorable.
Thomas Jefferson ended the Declaration of Independence with this memorable clause:
[W]e mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.
[W]e mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.
Note the parallel grammatical forms
our + noun
The repetition of the key word our adds to the sense of order and purpose in the passage.

11. Parallel structure for related ideas
Parallel structure can be used to connect single words, phrases, clauses, or even entire sentences.
Here General Douglas MacArthur uses three strong nouns and three noun clauses in his farewell speech to the cadets at West Point.
Duty, honor, country—those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, and what you will be.
nouns
noun clauses

12. Parallel structure for related ideas Noun clauses
A clause is a group of words that contains a verb and its subject and is used as part of a sentence.
Subject
Part of a Sentence
Verb
Duane finished first, and Scott finished last.
Duane finished first
Duane finished first
Duane finished first
A subordinate clause (or dependent clause) does not express a complete thought and cannot stand by itself as a sentence.
Noun Clause
We did not realize that Duane finished first.
that Duane finished first
A noun clause is a kind of subordinate clause that functions as a noun.

13. Parallel structure for related ideas
Parallel structure is often seen in a series of three items. In his speech “I Have a Dream,” Martin Luther King, Jr., proclaims
So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.
King repeats the key clause “let freedom ring” three times, each instance followed by a
prepositional phrase.
Each phrase also contains parallel elements:
from the
+ adjective
+ noun
+ of + name of state

14. Parallel structure
Identify the grammatical forms or key words that are parallel in each of the following famous quotations.
1. [A]mong these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.
2. [G]overnment of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
3. That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.

15. Parallel structure
Identify the grammatical forms or key words that are parallel in each of the following famous quotations.
1. [A]mong these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.
In this quotation from the Declaration of Independence, Life, Liberty, and pursuit are parallel because they are nouns. The final item is varied by adding a prepositional phrase, of Happiness.

16. Parallel structure
Identify the grammatical forms or key words that are parallel in each of the following famous quotations.
2. [G]overnment of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
In this quotation from Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, of the people, by the people, and for the people are parallel because they are prepositional phrases. The repetition of the key word people adds to the parallelism.

17. Parallel structure
Identify the grammatical forms or key words that are parallel in each of the following famous quotations.
3. That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.
In this quotation from astronaut Neil Armstrong, one small step for a man and one giant leap for mankind are parallel because both begin with the key word one followed by an adjective, a noun,
and a prepositional phrase beginning with for.

18. Parallel structure for opposites
Another technique of rhetoric is to express opposites in parallel structures.
Abraham Lincoln used parallel structure to express opposites in his second inaugural address:
With malice toward none, with charity for all
with + contrasting nouns + preposition + contrasting pronouns

19. Parallel structure for opposites
Here Winston Churchill expresses the contrast between two systems of government by using parallel structure.
The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal
sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.
the inherent + contrasting nouns + of + noun
the + contrasting adjectives + sharing of + contrasting nouns
How does the use of parallel structure bring out the contrast that Churchill is making?

20. Parallel structure for opposites
One special kind of parallel structure that orators use to relate opposites is called chiasmus.
This technique gets its name from the Greek letter chi, which looks like an X.
Φ Χ Ψ Ω
Like an X, chiasmus involves making two statements that “cross,” as in this sentence from John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address: A B
Let us never negotiate out of fear, B A
but let us never fear to negotiate.

21. Parallel structure for opposites
One of the most famous examples of chiasmus in American rhetoric comes from the same speech.
Ask not what your country can do for you,
ask what you can do for your country.
Notice the parallel structure that makes this contrast possible. Both halves of the sentence are parallel and contain noun clauses that are also parallel.
ask + noun clause
what + subject + can do + prepositional phrase starting with for

22. Parallel structure On Your Own
The following sentences contain words that are not parallel in form. Revise each sentence to create parallel structure.
1. Jen completed the test quickly, but her work was incorrect.
2. Both nations agreed to stop fighting, and they are now pursuing peace.
3. If we act on our emotions, then our emotions will perform actions on us.
4. Optimists see the best in every situation, while pessimists are seeing what is worst.
[End of Section]

23. Parallel structure Possible Answers
The following sentences contain words that are not parallel in form. Revise each sentence to create Parallel structure .
1. Jen completed the test quickly but incorrectly.
2. Both nations agreed to stop fighting and to pursue peace.
3. If we act on our emotions, then our emotions will act on us.
4. Optimists see the best in every situation, while pessimists see the worst.

24. Review A
Identify each group of parallel structures in this famous sentence from President Eisenhower’s 1961 farewell address.
To all the peoples of the world, I once more give expression to America's prayerful and continuing aspiration: We pray that peoples of all faiths, all races, all nations, may have their great human needs satisfied; that those now denied opportunity shall come to enjoy it to the full; that all who yearn for freedom may experience its few spiritual blessings.

25. Review A
Identify each group of parallel structures in this famous sentence from President Eisenhower’s 1961 farewell address.
To all the peoples of the world, I once more give expression to America's prayerful and continuing aspiration: We pray that peoples of all faiths, all races, all nations, may have their great human needs satisfied; that those now denied opportunity shall come to enjoy it to the full; that all who yearn for freedom may experience its few spiritual blessings.
All + Nouns
Noun
Clauses

26. Review B
Write three statements contrasting your thoughts or experiences as a child with what you know or do now. Make each statement parallel in structure, and include one example of chiasmus.

27. Review B
Write three statements contrasting your thoughts or experiences as a child with what you know or do now. Make each statement parallel in structure, and include one example of chiasmus.
[possible answers]
Then, I kept to myself. Today, I reach out to others.
2. As a child, I thought about play. As a young adult, I think about work.
3. If I did well, I expected some reward;
now I am rewarded by doing well. (chiasmus)

28. Personal Narrative Essay

29. Personal Narrative Essay
Many college entrance essays, scholarship essays, and special programs require some kind of personal “story”.

30. This is an opportunity for practice of this kind of essay.

31. Personal Narrative Essay
Expository
Descriptive
Persuasive
Narrative

32. Personal Narrative Essay
Dialogue
Thesis: has a point

33. Tell a story

34. The End