The correct way to write the sentence would be to say, “For my birthday, I want presents and cake,” since “presents” and “cake” are both nouns. However, you could also say, “For my birthday, I want to open presents and to eat cake,” since “to open” and “to eat” are infinitive verbs.
For example, you wouldn’t say, “Sarah loves her cat, her soft blanket, and to watch TV,” since “cat” and “blanket” are nouns but “to watch” is an infinitive verb. However, you could say, “Sarah loves her cat, her soft blanket, and watching TV,” since “watching” is a gerund, or a verb that acts as a noun. To make this sentence even more balanced, you would say, “Sarah loves her cat, her soft blanket, and TV,” since these are all nouns. It is always helpful to prioritize sentence clarity when creating parallelism in a sentence.
For instance, the sentence “She loved riding horses, hated math, and wishes she could travel more,” mixes past tense (“loved” and “hated”) with present tense (“wishes”). Instead, you would say, “She loved riding horses, hated math, and wished she could travel more,” which are all in the past tense.
For instance, it sounds strange to say, “Cats and a dog make great pets,” since the word “cats” is plural and “a dog” is singular. Instead, you would say, “Cats and dogs make great pets,” since both “cats” and “dogs” are plural. If you’re referring to specific items, such as “My living room has a couch, two chairs, and a throw rug,” it’s fine if the noun numbers don’t match.
To correct this, the sentence could either be written, “Kate is fast, efficient, and courteous,” which uses all adjectives, or “Kate works quickly, efficiently, and courteously,” which uses all adverbs. Another incorrect example would be, “He wanted to drive cars, go on trips, and being famous,” since the first 2 items in the series are infinitives and the third is a gerund. Instead, you would say, “He wanted to drive cars, go on trips, and be famous,” which uses all infinitives.
Similarly, “I loved seeing you and having met your mother,” is not balanced, since “loved” is in the past tense and “having met” is a perfect participle. Instead, say “I loved seeing you and meeting your mother,” so that both sides of the conjunction are in the past tense. Sometimes the conjunction can be replaced with a semicolon, such as in John F. Kennedy’s famous quote, “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country. ” In this case, the parallelism is created by the repetition of the sentence structure.
For instance, you could say, “Flying is much faster than driving,” in which case both items or gerunds. You could also say, “To fly is much faster than to drive,” so that both elements are infinitives. However, it would be incorrect to say, “Flying is much faster than to drive,” since “flying” is a gerund and “to drive” is an infinitive. The same rules apply for correlative conjunctions, including “either/or,” “neither/nor,” “both/and,” and “not only/but also. ” For example, you would say, “You can choose either having a party or going on a trip,” in which cause both items are gerund phrases, rather than “You can choose either having a party or to go on a trip. " In the second example, “having a party” is a gerund phrase, but “to go on a trip” is an infinitive phrase.
For instance, in our previous example, “Kate is fast, efficiently, and courteous,” both the sentences “Kate is fast,” and “Kate is courteous,” make perfect sense, since they have a subject, a verb, and an adjective. However, the sentence “Kate is efficiently,” doesn’t make sense, since “efficiently” is an adverb. The simplest way to fix this sentence to change the adverb “efficiently” to the adjective “efficient. ” Since “Kate is efficient,” is grammatically correct, you know that “Kate is fast, efficient, and courteous,” is a parallel sentence.
One of the most famous examples of this type of parallelism is Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. By repeating the phrase “I have a dream,” he created a dramatic effect that still moves people today. Another example is found in Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address: “This nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. " The repetition of “the people” emphasizes President Lincoln’s belief that the United States should represent all Americans. A bad example of this would be something like, “Before I went to the store, I put on my socks. After I put on my socks, I put on my shoes. After I put on my shoes, I got my keys. After I got my keys. . . " The repetition here doesn’t serve to highlight a particular point, and it gets boring quickly.
The sentence, “He likes to run, to dance, and to sing,” is correct, since the verbs are all infinitives, but “He likes to run, dance, and sing,” is more to the point.
