Which sentence uses correct parallel structure?
A. During the weekdays, Enriquez enjoys cooking, the park, and to read before he goes to bed.
B. When Jonas goes to the beach, he likes to swim in the water and playing volleyball in the sand.
C. On the weekends, Georgina likes to play soccer, watch a movie, and take afternoon naps.
D. As soon as Molly gets home, she enjoys sitting on the couch and to watch her favorite TV show.
The Correct Answer and Explanation is :
The sentence that uses correct parallel structure is C. On the weekends, Georgina likes to play soccer, watch a movie, and take afternoon naps.
Explanation of Parallel Structure
Parallel structure, also known as parallelism, is a grammatical and rhetorical framing technique that involves using the same pattern of words to show that two or more ideas have the same level of importance. This enhances clarity and readability in writing.
Let’s analyze each option to understand why option C is the only one that adheres to parallel structure:
A. During the weekdays, Enriquez enjoys cooking, the park, and to read before he goes to bed.
- In this sentence, “cooking” and “to read” are not parallel. The phrase “the park” is also out of place, as it doesn’t match the verb form of the other two. To correct this, it could be rewritten as “cooking, going to the park, and reading.”
B. When Jonas goes to the beach, he likes to swim in the water and playing volleyball in the sand.
- Here, “to swim” and “playing” are mismatched forms. “To swim” is an infinitive while “playing” is a gerund. This could be fixed by changing it to “to swim in the water and to play volleyball in the sand.”
C. On the weekends, Georgina likes to play soccer, watch a movie, and take afternoon naps.
- This sentence is structured correctly. All three phrases (“to play soccer,” “watch a movie,” and “take afternoon naps”) follow the same grammatical form (infinitive or base form), making them parallel.
D. As soon as Molly gets home, she enjoys sitting on the couch and to watch her favorite TV show.
- In this example, “sitting” and “to watch” are not parallel. It can be corrected to “sitting on the couch and watching her favorite TV show.”
In summary, sentence C maintains a consistent structure, while the others falter due to mismatched grammatical forms. This illustrates the importance of parallel structure in crafting clear and coherent sentences.