Simple Parallelism

Parallel structure is really a matter of balance. Balancing a sentence can be compared to balancing a scale if we pretend that certain words -- and, or, but -- are the balancing points and if we understand that the words being balanced must carry the same "weight" in the sentence. One part of speech or of a sentence can be balanced only by one (or a series) of the same kind.

Notice that modifiers (like "down by the pier," "with the sunrise," and "of the fisherman") do not affect the balance of the sentences.

Unbalanced	I enjoy biking and to walk down by the pier.
Parallel	I enjoy biking and walking down by the pier.

This example sentence is unbalanced because "and" divides two different parts of speech. An "ing" word is used before and,while an infinitive, "to walk," is used after. To make the sentence parallel, simply use the same part of speech for both ideas.

Unbalanced	Boy Scouts at the camp can learn cooking, canoeing, swimming, or how to make ropes.
Parallel	Boy Scouts at the camp can learn cooking, canoeing, swimming, or rope-making.

Here again, the form of the last item, "how to make ropes," doesn't match the other items and seems too heavy. To balance the sentence, change the form to match as in the parallel example.

Unbalanced	Non-traditional students often study long hours, get limited sleep, and up again with the sunrise.
Parallel	Non-traditional students often study long hours, get limited sleep, and are up again with the sunrise.

This time the sentence is unbalanced because the first two phrases include verbs, "study" and "get," but the last phrase doesn't contain a verb. To be parallel, each phrase should follow the pattern of the first one in the series. This can be accomplished by adding a verb to the last phrase.

---

Parellelism using common connectors

A slightly different parallelism involves the common connectors-- either/or, neither/nor, not only/but also. Here, the kind of word or part of a sentence that follows the first connector must be the same as the kind following the second. Consider the following examples.

The storm front was moving either east through Minneapolis or northeast through Duluth.

Here the two prepositional phrases are parallel; they are the same kind of structure.

Unbalanced	The hurricane not only destroyed the fishing fleet but also the homes of the fishermen.
Parallel	The hurricane destroyed not only the fishing fleet but also the homes of the fishermen.

In this case, the verb "destroyed" cannot balance the noun "homes." The sentence should be rewritten so that "destroyed" appears before "not only" and so nouns follow both connectors.

A Coward

Guy de Maupassant

Society called him Handsome Signoles. His name was Viscount Gontran-Joseph de Signoles.

An orphan, and possessed of an adequate income, he cut a dash, as the saying is. He had a good figure and a good carriage, a sufficient flow of words to pass for wit, a certain natural grace, an air of nobility and pride, a gallant moustache and an eloquent eye, attributes which women like.

He was in demand in drawing-rooms, sought after for valses, and in men he inspired that smiling hostility which is reserved for vital and attractive rivals. He had been suspected of several love-affairs of a sort calculated to create a good opinion of a youngster. He lived a happy, care-free life, in the most complete well-being of body and mind. He was known to be a fine swordsman and a still finer shot with the pistol.

"When I come to fight a duel," he would say, "I shall choose pistols. With that weapon, I'm sure of killing my man."

One evening, he went to the theatre with two ladies, quite young, friends of his, whose husbands were also of the party, and after the performance he invited them to take ices at Tortoni's.

Read the rest of this story

There are two genders properly so called: Masculine and Feminine. The distinction of male and female in nature is called sex. The distinction between Masculine and Feminine in words is called Gender.

NOTE:
The word Gender comes from the Latin word genus, generis, a sort or kind.

The English language, unlike most others, applies the distinction of Masculine and Feminine only to the names of persons and animals: man, woman; boy, girl; lion, lioness. Nouns which denote things without animal life are said to be Neuter or of Neuter Gender, from the Latin word neuter, neither (i.e, neither masculine nor feminine) : iron, stone, river. The only exception to this rule is when inanimate things are represented as persons.

NOTE:
Collective Nouns are Neuter though denoting collections of male or female objects: army, committee, sisterhood.

When the same name is used for male and female, it is said to be Common or of Common Gender : bird, fish, parent, sovereign, friend. There are three ways of indicating difference of Gender in Nouns:-

1. By inflexion*
2. By using a word indicative of sex
3. By distinct words

* INFLEXION [Latin, inflecto, flexi, flexum, to bend or change] means some addition to, or change in, a word to denote a modification of meaning. The inflexional changes of words are explained in connexion with their classification

Please see the extended post!

WORD CHOICE: type, kind, sort
Type, kind, and sort all have the same meaning and can be used in the same situations: What type of car do you drive? | an interesting kind of plant | a new sort of mobile phone
If you are saying that something is partly true or are not being exact, use sort of or kind of rather than type of: It's a sort of oval shape.

GRAMMAR: type, kind, sort
Type, kind, and sort are countable nouns, and they must be plural after determiners with plural meanings:
this type/kind/sort of + singular noun: I don't like this type of thing. | This kind of mistake is easy to make. |Red wine goes well with this sort of dish.
these/those types/kinds/sorts of + plural/singular noun: How common are these types of illness(es)? |Those kinds of colors look good with dark skin.
!! Remember to use the plural types/kinds/sorts after all, both, certain, different, many, several, various etc: movies that appeal to certain kinds of people (NOT certain kind of people) | Many sorts of jobs require computing skills (NOT many sort of jobs).

WORD CHOICE: cause, reason
A cause is something such as an action, event, or situation that makes something happen: The cause of the accident is not known. |a determination to tackle the causes of crime
A reason is an explanation for something: Can you think of any reason why he would behave in this way? | There is a good reason (NOT a good cause) for my decision.

GRAMMAR: cause
Use the cause of, not 'cause for' or 'cause why': What is the cause of all this unrest?
!! cause for is used in some expressions such as cause for alarm/concern/complaint/optimism/satisfaction: There is no cause for concern. | His remarks give some cause for hope.
Use cause somebody to do something, not 'cause that somebody does something': A cat ran into the road, causing her to brake suddenly (NOT causing that she braked suddenly).

GRAMMAR: reason
!! Reason is never followed by of or because.
You can talk about the reason for something, the reason that something happens, or the reason why something happens: Can you explain the reasons for (NOT reasons of) your decision? |The main reason why/that (NOT reason because) I'm writing is to invite you to stay.
You can also leave out why or that: I like children, and that's the reason I became a teacher.
!! Reason is not usually followed by against. When you are giving reasons why something is bad, use argument against: An important argument against (NOT reason against) capital punishment is the possibility of error.

Apostrophe Rules

1. The apostrophe indicates that a number or a letter has been omitted:

   it is = it’s	‘65 = 1965
   does not = doesn’t	‘90 = 1990

2. Apostrophes are also used to show possession orownership. The apostrophe follows the noun that is owning something.Apostrophes can be troublesome when we need to think about singular nouns vs. plural nouns.

---

Singular Nouns (not ending with -s)

Owner	Thing Owned	Correct form
a child	shoes	a child’s shoes
anyone	idea	anyone’s idea
society	values	society’s values
a person	income	a person’s income
a country	leader	a country’s leader

Singular Nouns (ending with -s)

Owner	Thing Owned	Correct form
Chris Jones	dog	Chris Jones’ dog
James	room	James’ room

---

Plural Nouns (not ending with -s)

Owner	Thing Owned	Correct form
people	beliefs	people’s beliefs
children	songs	children’s songs
women	rights	women’s rights
men	shoes	men’s shoes

---

Plural Nouns (ending with -s)

Owner	Thing Owned	Correct form
two weeks	vacation	two weeks’ vacation
ten dollars	worth	ten dollars’ worth
the Joneses	house	the Joneses’ house
students	addresses	students’ addresses
two singers	performances	two singers’ performances

---

Additional Notes

1. The following pronouns are already possessive and do not require apostrophes: yours, ours, its, theirs, his, hers, and whose.

2. Usually, "of" is used to show possession for non-living things: the walls of the room, the color of your pants. Money and time words are exceptions: one week’s vacation, four dollars’ worth.

3. Sometimes you may see a short word, like James, written with an s after the apostrophe. This is not incorrect; it is only a variation. Weadvise that you stick to the commonly used system in this web document.

Adopted From LEO

Comma Rules

Use a comma before a coordinating conjunction (and, or, but, nor, yet, for, so) that separates two independent clauses.

State censorship boards flourished, but the pressure groups wanted a more comprehensive ban on objectionable material.

Traditional classroom methods are under fire from educators nationwide, and many are advocating that methods for individualizing instruction be incorporated into K-12 curricula.

---

Use a comma after an introductory word, phrase, or clause that comes before a main clause.

words		Strangely, no one has suggested that Watergate gave us a "new Nixon."
		Nevertheless, many critics of the new administration point to its inability to develop a coherent strategy for decreasing the budget deficit.
phrases		In addition to television's influence, some parents and teachers ascribe children's diminished drive to play to recent changes in the elementary school curriculum.
		Despite immigrant's high hopes, their illusions were often shattered.
clauses		Since the new system was implemented, payroll has been processed 25% faster than it had been using the prior system.
		As they move through the twilight world of big-time narcotics, Crockett and Tubbs constantly break the law to do their jobs.

---

Use commas around words, phrases, and clauses in themiddle of a sentence when they aren't essential to the meaning of thesentence.

words		By "imagination," then, I mean the free intellectual and sensory play of the mind.
		Numerous studies, however, have shown that negative reinforcment affects self-image more extensively than does positive reinforcement.
phrases		This was not, in other words, an invisible 56 percent of the population.
		Karl Marx, an important nineteenth-century sociologist, believed in his role as a social thinker to change the world.
clauses		Senator McGilvery, who is a Democrat from Rhode Island, dealt fully and responsibly with the controversy his new child care bill sparked.
		Newspeak, which greatly reduced people's vocabularies, lessened their ability to understand scientific words.

---

Use commas between items in a series.

words		The frigid, snowy, windy day was typical of Minnesota in January.
		Bald eagles, ospreys, herons, mergansers, and kingfishers are native to this area.
phrases		As more and more anti-smoking laws are passed, we see droves of would-be non-smokers chomping on Nicorettes, gnawing peppermints, chewing pencils, knitting sweaters, or practicing self-hypnosis.
		Three reasons for the closing were insufficient enrollment, poor instructional materials, and inadequate funds.
clauses		Though dogs are messy and hard to train, though they chew up my shoes and give me the blues, though they howl like wolves but jump at their own shadows, though they eat me out of house and home, I still find them a necessary part of my existence.
		If the procedure is carefully planned, if that plan is followed with skill and precision, and if the results are carefully analyzed and professionally presented, we might receive the research award.

---

Use commas before and after a quotation within a sentence.

"Cooperation between government and industry," the president said, "must exist if the country is to prosper."

The band leader said, "Once the simple marching drill is learned, we will work on more maneuvers."

---

Use a comma before an afterthought or contrasting element.

afterthought		For Canada, the War of 1812 was vitally important, far more important than it was for Britain.
contrasting element		To understand a particular culture, we must consider the society as a whole, not its individual parts.

---

Use commas to set off geographical names, items in date, and professional titles.

geographical names		The speaker that day was from Atlanta, Georgia; she discussed the discrimination against blacks which still exist there.
items in dates		Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, in a log cabin near Hodgenville, Kentucky.
professional titles		Stephanie Glenn, Ph.D., will be the main speaker at the banquet.

Adopted From LEO