Mixed construction in a sentence begins with one grammatical
form and ends with another, resulting in confusion. In the following example, the writer begins
the sentence with a dependent clause, but then shifts immediately to the verb of the independent
clause:
Although he comes from a family of pickpockets
does not make him a thief.
It can be corrected by adding
a subject:
Although he comes from a family of pickpockets,
this criminal background does not make him a
thief.
Parallelism takes place in a sentence when
balanced ideas are expressed by balanced grammatical forms. Thus, an idea expressed in a single
word is balanced with a single word; one in a phrase with a phrase; and one in a clause with a
clause. Thus, faulty parallelism takes place in a sentence when ideas of equal weight are
expressed in grammatical forms of unequal weight. In the following example, the writer has failed
to balance the initial (independent) clause with clauses (dependent) of equal
weight:
In our society, the young feel alienated, because
they are not trusted by adults, their unfavourable representation in the media, and the
capitalist economy supposes them consumeristic.
It can be
corrected by righting the grammatical balance:
In our
society, the young feel alienated, because they are not trusted by adults, they are
represented unfavourably in the media, and they are considered consumeristic by the capitalist
economy.
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