The Symmetry of Parallel Structure

             

                  

Tyger, tyger, burning bright

In the forests of the night,

What immortal hand or eye

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

                     —William Blake

When one thinks of symmetry, one usually thinks of design, but of course symmetry also exists in mathematics, geometry, and many other sciences. Symmetry conveys a sense of beauty and harmony through esthetically or geometrically balanced proportions. 

In language, the concept of symmetry is referred to as “parallel structure.” In the written word, attention to parallel structure may seem like a very subtle—and perhaps minor—concept, but it can not only make the language more beautiful and rhythmical, but also make it more easily understood, because a symmetrical structure clearly exhibits the relationships of words to one another: It shows who is doing what to whom, and how, without leading the reader off in an irrelevant direction.

Think of an old brass balance scale with a fulcrum and two pans hanging from chains. Now imagine that the conjunction (“and” or “or”) is the fulcrum. For the scale to balance, what is in one pan must be of equivalent weight to what is in the other pan. In the examples below, the brackets are the “pans” that must be balanced; note the difference in the sentences when the words that are in the sets of brackets in each sentence are balanced in form—or not.

- 1 - 

Not Parallel

A. He wanted to see the exhibition [on twentieth-century photography] and [the one on Indian miniatures].

Parallel

B. He wanted to see the exhibitions on [twentieth-century photography] and [Indian miniatures].

- 2 -

Not Parallel

A. The argument was written [precisely], [eloquently], and [in a way that was persuasive].

Parallel

B. The argument was written [precisely], [eloquently], and [persuasively].

- 3 - 

Not Parallel

A. Dickens’s Madame Defarge liked [to knit] and [plotting] revolution.

Parallel

B. Dickens’s Madame Defarge liked [knitting] and [plotting] revolution.

C. Dickens’s Madame Defarge liked [to knit] and [to plot] revolution.

- 4 - 

Not Parallel

A. He painted [furiously] and [with passion].

Parallel

B. He painted with [fury] and [passion].

C. He painted [furiously] and [passionately].

- 5 - 

Not Parallel

A. Somerset Maugham [based] The Moon and Sixpence on the life of Gauguin, and Of Human Bondage [was based] on the theme of romantic obsession.

Parallel

B. Somerset Maugham [based] The Moon and Sixpence on the life of Gauguin, and [based] Of Human Bondage on the theme of romantic obsession.

The flow of language can be strident and dissonant, like noise—or melodious and agreeable, like music. It can arrange itself in the reader’s mind like a fine tapestry—or like a tangled skein of yarn. If your ideas are worth communicating, then they’re worth packaging carefully. 

___________

Bulletin Board

To L.L.: When Ms. Picky referred to herself as a “champion of the English language,” she was not heaping accolades upon herself. “Champion” has two meanings: One is “winner,” but the other is “supporter.” Ms. Picky is a supporter of the English language.

To M.A.: There is no such word as “alright” or “alot. “All right” should always be written as two separate words, as should “a lot.”

________

This blog is now read in Brazil, Canada, China, Croatia, France, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Malaysia, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, the U.K., the U.S., and Vietnam, but not in the Sariska Tiger Reserve, in Rajasthan, India.