Rhetorical Device: Parallelism

Parallelism demonstrates clarity of thought and helps coordinate ideas of equal importance, a skill and habit we want to see manifested in our students and their thinking to be sure!
Of the 5 canons of rhetoric - invention, arrangement, elocution, memory, presentation - parallelism falls under the canon of elocution or style. It is also common to refer to members of the elocution canon as rhetorical devices.
Students should research the stylistic or rhetorical device of parallelism further to expand their understanding. Hint: Proverbs is full of parallel structures! Do you find any parallel sentences in Much Ado? In our poetry studies and writings? Start here >

Scrambling, out-facing, fashion-monging boys,
That lie and cog and flout, deprave and slander,

~ Much Ado About Nothing, Act V Scene III, Antonio

Students should seek to implement parallelism in their writing to bring clarity and balance to structure and ideas in their writing.
Where is a good place to start? Add it into your intro paragraph as you are stating the topics or proofs you are going to include in the body of your essay.

What is parallelism? Similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses.

How to create parallelism in your writing:

1. In your essay, find two or more words, phrases, or clauses that make a list and underline them.
2. Compare parts, looking at particular part of speech uses in each series
3. Identify best structure from the series
4. Edit other parts in the series to bring a parallel structure to each part in the series.

For example, if series consists of nouns, convert all unmatched parts; if series consists of verbs, convert all unmatched parts; if noun followed by a prepositional phrase, convert all unmatched parts. And so on.

Not in parallel structure: David likes reading, to write, and participating in debate.

Put into parallel structure: David likes reading, writing, and debating.

Below are examples, one for Shakespeare essay introductory paragraph, and one for American History essay introductory paragraph:

Claudio should not listen Don John because Don John disliked Claudio, Don John lost the war, and Don John resented Don Pedro.

Colonial life was vastly different from our life today because of the lack of central government, the absence of strong military, and the abundance of unexplored territory.

Have fun with parallelism!

Put your three proofs for your Much Ado persuasive essay in parallel form.