Science, Technology and Engineering

Academic Language and Learning

Parallel structure problems

Problems with maintaining parallel structure often occur when constructing lists, either as dot points or within a sentence. Items in a list should be the same type of word in terms of grammar, for example, a list of nouns or a list of verbs. The following examples should illustrate.

The objectives of this review are:

• Outlining the main conceptual areas behind the science of navel gazing
• To give an account of the controversy surrounding the benefits of navel gazing
• The different ways to navel gaze.
  
  INCORRECT

Each of the dot points has a different grammatical form. To give the items in the list parallel structure, they should have the same grammatical form as in the list of verbs (actions) below.

The objectives of this review are to:

• outline the main conceptual areas behind the science of navel gazing
• give an account of the controversy surrounding the benefits of navel gazing
• describe the different ways to navel gaze.
  
  CORRECT