Parallel Structure & Word Order
Keep items in a list in the same grammatical form, and put words in their natural English order — two marks of polished, professional writing.
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Quick answer · Keep every item in a list in the same grammatical form — for example, use three -ing words like "reading, writing, and speaking" instead of mixing verb forms.
More · 3 common questions
English also stacks adjectives in a fixed seven-part order (opinion-size-age-shape-colour-origin-material), places frequency adverbs before the main verb but after "be," and never splits a verb from its object.
- What's an example of broken parallel structure?
- "She likes reading, to write, and she paints" mixes a gerund, an infinitive, and a clause. The fixed version keeps all three items in the same -ing form: "reading, writing, and painting."
- What order do multiple adjectives follow in English?
- Opinion, size, age, shape, colour, origin, material, then the noun — so "a nice big house" is correct but "a big nice house" is not.
- Where do frequency adverbs like "always" or "never" go in a sentence?
- They go before the main verb but after the verb "be": "I often travel" and "He is never late."
- 1.Items in a list must share the same form: "reading, writing, and speaking" (all -ing), not "reading, to write, and speech".
- 2.Adjective order: opinion-size-age-shape-colour-origin-material: "a lovely small old wooden box".
- 3.Adverbs of frequency go before the main verb but after "be": "I always arrive early." / "She is always late."
- 4.Keep subject-verb-object order; do not place adverbs between the verb and its object: not "I like very much coffee".
Parallelism: keep the pattern
When you list two or more items, they must be in the same grammatical form:
✗ "She likes reading, to write, and she paints." ✓ "She likes reading, writing, and painting."
This applies to verbs, nouns, and phrases:
✓ "The job requires patience, creativity, and flexibility." (three nouns) ✓ "We need to cut costs and to raise revenue." (two infinitives)
Adjective order
When several adjectives stack up, English follows a fixed order: opinion → size → age → shape → colour → origin → material → noun.
"a beautiful little old round red Italian leather chair" (rarely all at once, but the order holds) ✓ "a nice big house" ✗ "a big nice house"
Adverb placement
- Frequency adverbs (always, usually, often, never) go before the main verb but after be:
- "I often travel." "He is never late."
- Do not split a verb from its object:
- ✗ "I like very much this city." ✓ "I like this city very much."
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