English 10 / Unit 10: Grammar: Clauses, Sentence Structure and Punctuation
10.7 Parallel Structure and Modifiers
Notes
Clear sentences keep matching ideas in matching forms and put modifiers next to what they modify.
- Parallel structure: items in a list or comparison use the same grammatical form. Not parallel: She likes hiking, to swim and biking. Parallel: She likes hiking, swimming and biking.
- A misplaced modifier sits next to the wrong word: She served cake to the guests on paper plates (the guests are on plates?). Fix: She served the guests cake on paper plates.
- A dangling modifier has no word to modify: Walking to school, the rain started. Fix: Walking to school, I got caught in the rain.
Practice
Which sentence has parallel structure?
All three items are infinitives.
"Running to catch the bus, my backpack fell open." What is the error?
The backpack was not running; the person is missing.
Maya wants to say she ate most of the pizza but left one slice. Which sentence says this clearly?
"Almost" must sit next to "the whole pizza"; "almost ate" means she nearly ate but did not eat at all.
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