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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE concept PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DITA Concept//EN" "concept.dtd">
<concept id="concept_cfx_gt4_z2b">
    <title>Rule 15</title>
    <shortdesc>Express co-ordinate ideas in similar form.</shortdesc>
    <conbody>
        <p>This principle, that of parallel construction, requires that expressions of similar
            content and function should be outwardly similar. The likeness of form enables the
            reader to recognize more readily the likeness of content and function. Familiar
            instances from the Bible are the Ten Commandments, the Beatitudes, and the petitions of
            the Lord's Prayer.</p>
        <p>The unskillful writer often violates this principle, from a mistaken belief that he
            should constantly vary the form of his expressions. It is true that in repeating a
            statement in order to emphasize it he may have need to vary its form. For illustration,
            see the paragraph from Stevenson quoted under <xref keyref="rule_09">Rule 9</xref>. But
            apart from this, he should follow the principle of parallel construction.</p>
        <table outputclass="example" id="table_nwn_ck3_z2b">
            <tgroup cols="2">
                <colspec colname="col1"/>
                <colspec colname="col2"/>
                <tbody>
                    <row>
                        <entry morerows="0" namest="col1" nameend="col1" outputclass="first"
                            >Formerly, science was taught by the textbook method, while now the
                            laboratory method is employed.</entry>
                        <entry morerows="0" namest="col2" nameend="col2" outputclass="second"
                            >Formerly, science was taught by the textbook method; now it is taught
                            by the laboratory method.</entry>
                    </row>
                </tbody>
            </tgroup>
        </table>
        <p>The left-hand version gives the impression that the writer is undecided or timid; he
            seems unable or afraid to choose one form of expression and hold to it. The right-hand
            version shows that the writer has at least made his choice and abided by it.</p>
        <p>By this principle, an article or a preposition applying to all the members of a series
            must either be used only before the first term or else be repeated before each term.</p>
        <table outputclass="example" id="table_own_ck3_z2b">
            <tgroup cols="2">
                <colspec colname="col1"/>
                <colspec colname="col2"/>
                <tbody>
                    <row>
                        <entry morerows="0" namest="col1" nameend="col1" outputclass="first">The
                            French, the Italians, Spanish, and Portuguese</entry>
                        <entry morerows="0" namest="col2" nameend="col2" outputclass="second">The
                            French, the Italians, the Spanish, and the Portuguese</entry>
                    </row>
                    <row>
                        <entry morerows="0" namest="col1" nameend="col1" outputclass="first">In
                            spring, summer, or in winter</entry>
                        <entry morerows="0" namest="col2" nameend="col2" outputclass="second">In
                            spring, summer, or winter (In spring, in summer, or in winter)</entry>
                    </row>
                </tbody>
            </tgroup>
        </table>
        <p>Correlative expressions (<i>both, and</i>; <i>not, but</i>; <i>not only, but also</i>;
                <i>either, or</i>; <i>first, second, third</i>; and the like) should be followed by
            the same grammatical construction, that is, virtually, by the same part of speech. (Such
            combinations as “both Henry and I,” “not silk, but a cheap substitute,” are obviously
            within the rule.) Many violations of this rule (as the first three below) arise from
            faulty arrangement; others (as the last) from the use of unlike constructions.</p>
        <table outputclass="example" id="table_pwn_ck3_z2b">
            <tgroup cols="2">
                <colspec colname="col1"/>
                <colspec colname="col2"/>
                <tbody>
                    <row>
                        <entry morerows="0" namest="col1" nameend="col1" outputclass="first">It was
                            both a long ceremony and very tedious.</entry>
                        <entry morerows="0" namest="col2" nameend="col2" outputclass="second">The
                            ceremony was both long and tedious.</entry>
                    </row>
                    <row>
                        <entry morerows="0" namest="col1" nameend="col1" outputclass="first">A time
                            not for words, but action.</entry>
                        <entry morerows="0" namest="col2" nameend="col2" outputclass="second">A time
                            not for words, but for action.</entry>
                    </row>
                    <row>
                        <entry morerows="0" namest="col1" nameend="col1" outputclass="first">Either
                            you must grant his request or incur his ill will.</entry>
                        <entry morerows="0" namest="col2" nameend="col2" outputclass="second">You
                            must either grant his request or incur his ill will.</entry>
                    </row>
                    <row>
                        <entry morerows="0" namest="col1" nameend="col1" outputclass="first">My
                            objections are, first, the injustice of the measure; second, that it is
                            unconstitutional.</entry>
                        <entry morerows="0" namest="col2" nameend="col2" outputclass="second">My
                            objections are, first, that the measure is unjust; second, that it is
                            unconstitutional.</entry>
                    </row>
                </tbody>
            </tgroup>
        </table>
        <p>See also the third example under <xref keyref="rule_12">Rule 12</xref> and the last under
                <xref keyref="rule_13">Rule 13</xref>.</p>
        <p>It may be asked, what if a writer needs to express a very large number of similar ideas,
            say twenty? Must he write twenty consecutive sentences of the same pattern? On closer
            examination he will probably find that the difficulty is imaginary, that his twenty
            ideas can be classified in groups, and that he need apply the principle only within each
            group. Otherwise he had best avoid difficulty by putting his statements in the form of a
            table.</p>
    </conbody>
</concept>