CHAPTER 7 Building Better Sentences^157
CREATING BALANCE WITH PARALLEL VERB FORMS
Look at a different kind of balancing error:
Incorrect: For exercise, I like dancing and to in-line skate.In this sentence there is an action verb, like, followed by words that express what
exercises this person likes. Are they expressed in the same form? No, the fi rst,
dancing, ends in -ing while the second, in-line skate, is introduced by to. Choose
either form but never both:
Correct: I like to dance and to in-line skate.Correct: I like dancing and in-line skating.How would you correct the following sentence?
Incorrect: I gave my old car to my nephew, my water skis to my father, and my
tennis racket I gave away to a charity.At the beginning of the sentence, you see two parallel constructions: my old car to
my nephew and my water skis to my father. How can you change the wording of the
last gift—the tennis racket—to the same form? Just revert to the form already used:
car to my nephew, skis to my father,and tennis racket to a charity.
Correct: I gave my old car to my nephew, my water skis to my father, and my
tennis racket to a charity.Often, balancing errors occur when verbs are expressed in different forms:
Incorrect: I enjoy writing poetry, reading biographies, and stamp collection is
a favorite of mine.There are three actions in the sentence, writing,reading, and collecting. They need
to be expressed in the same way. If you start with writing, an -ing ending verb, con-
tinue with that form. Notice that collection is a noun, but, as you know, English
words can do more than one job. In this case, change the noun, collection, into an
action word:
Correct: I enjoy writing poetry, reading biographies, and collecting stamps.