In grammar, parallelism, also known as parallel structure or parallel construction, is a

balance within one or more sentences of similar phrases or clauses that have the same
grammatical structure.[1] The application of parallelism improves writing style and readability,
and is thought to make sentences easier to process.[2]

Compare the following examples:

Lacking parallelism: "She likes cooking, jogging, and to read."

Lacking parallelism: "He likes to swim and running."
Parallel: "She likes cooking, jogging, and reading."
Parallel: "She likes to cook, jog, and read."
Parallel: "He likes to swim and to run."
Parallel: "He likes swimming and running."

In the above example, the first sentence has two gerunds and one infinitive. To make it
parallel, the sentence can be rewritten with three gerunds or three infinitives.

Lacking parallelism: "The dog ran across the yard, jumped over the fence,
and down the alley he sprinted."
Parallel: "The dog ran across the yard, jumped over the fence, and sprinted down
the alley."
Grammatical but not employing parallelism: "The dog ran across the yard and
jumped over the fence, and down the alley he sprinted."

Note that the first nonparallel example, while inelegantly worded, is grammatically
correct: "cooking," "jogging," and "to read" are all grammatically valid conclusions to
"She likes." The third nonparallel example is not grammatically correct: "down the alley
he sprinted" is not a grammatically valid conclusion to "The dog." The final example,
which does not attempt to employ parallelism in its conclusion, is grammatically valid;
"down the alley he sprinted" is an entirely separate clause.

http://www.donnayoung.org/english/composition/parallelism-in-writing.htm

Common Parallelism Errors

To sing, to laugh, and dancing will enrich your day. Wrong
To sing, laugh, and to dance will enrich your day. Wrong
To sing, to laugh, and to dance will enrich your day. Good (all infinitives)
Singing, laughing, and dancing will enrich your day. Good (all gerunds)
She wants health, wealth, and to be happy. Wrong
She wants to be healthy, wealthy, and happy. Okay
She wants health, wealth, and happiness. Better
the books, papers, and the pencils Wrong
the books, the papers, and the pencils Good
books, papers, and pencils Good
My friend is faithful and helps me. Wrong
My friend is faithful and helpful. Corrected
She is friendly, smart and a good neighbor. Wrong
She is friendly, smart, and neighborly. Corrected

Parallelism
115. As a rule, two or more sentence-elements that have the same logical office
should be made grammatically parallel; i.e., if one is an infinitive, the other should
be; if one is a relative clause, the other should be; if one is an appositive, the other
should be; and so on.

Bad: The crowd began to wave handkerchiefs and shouting good-byes.

["To wave" and "shouting," both objects of "began," are awkwardly dissimilar in
form.]
Right: (a) The crowd began to wave handkerchiefs and to shout good-byes.
[or]
(b) The crowd began waving handkerchiefs and shouting good-byes.
[The two objects of " began " are made parallel; in (a) they are both infinitives, in
(b) they are both gerunds.]
Bad: I met many people there whom I had seen before but did not know their
names.
["Whom I had seen before" and "did not know their names," both qualifiers
(logically) of "people," are awkwardly dissimilar in form.]
Right: I met many people there whom I had seen before but whose names I did
not know.
[The two qualifiers of "people" are made parallel; both are relative clauses.]
Bad: I delight in a good novelone which portrays strong characters and in
reading the book you are thrilled.
[The two qualifiers of "one" are awkwardly dissimilar; the first ("which portrays
strong characters") is a relative clause, the second ("in reading the book you are
thrilled") a sentence.]
Right: I delight in a good novelone which portrays strong characters and which
thrills the reader.
[The two qualifiers are made parallel; both are relative clauses.]

Bad: I was asked to contribute to the church, Christian Association, and to the
athletic fund.
[The three modifiers of "contribute" are awkwardly dissimilar in form; the first is a
complete phrase, the second a noun with both the preposition and the article
lacking, the third a complete phrase.]
Right: I was asked to contribute to the church, to the Christian Association, and to
the athletic fund.
[The three modifiers of "contribute" are made parallel in form; each is a complete
phrase. ]
[or]
I was asked to contribute to the church, the Christian Association, and the athletic
fund.
["To" is made to govern three objects parallel in form,each consisting of "the"
and a noun

http://study.com/academy/lesson/parallelism-how-to-write-and-identify-parallel-sentences.html

Coordinating Conjunctions
To spot potential parallelism pitfalls, first look for the coordinating conjunctions in a sentence -
those are for,and, nor, but, or, yet, and so - and then look to either side of the conjunction to
see if it's parallel. So here's an example of a sentence without parallel structure:
Deep-fried Oreos are delicious but bad nutrition.
So we have 'delicious' on one side and 'nutrition' on the other of the coordinating conjunction,
but the former is an adjective and the latter is a noun. Here's the same sentence with parallel
structure:
Deep-fried oreos are delicious but not nutritious.
Now both of the descriptors are adjectives and the sentence is balanced.
Parallel structure is about style. It's about the way that a sentence feels and flows. Yes, it's part
of grammar, but it's also part of what makes an essay or a sentence sound good to the
reader's ear.
Let's look at another example.

Items in a Series
One of the most common parallel structure mistakes occurs when writers list items in a series.
You're bounding over the hills and dales of a sentence when suddenly, just before you reach
your destination, the car hits a ditch. Here's an example:
Sasquatch enjoys taking long walks in the forest, playing with small woodland creatures, and to
devour wandering tourists.
Now, instead of all -ing words - called gerunds - in the series, the sentence hits a hitch at the
infinitive to devour.Matching the verb-forms restores the balance, so it should be:
Sasquatch enjoys taking long walks in the forest, playing with small woodland creatures, and
devouring wandering tourists.
Isn't that better?

Clauses
In general, if you begin with a clause (that's a group of related words that contains a subject
and a verb), you need to stick with that clause for the duration of the sentence to keep it
parallel. So try this:
On the last night of awesome ninja training, the Master told his students that they must be
stealthy, that they must be cunning, and to be quick.
This sentence is unbalanced because the infinitive to be quick is not parallel with the
clause that they must be. To fix this, replace to be quick with the same clause as the other
clauses in the sentence:
On the last night of awesome ninja training, the Master told his students that they must be
stealthy, that they must be cunning, and that they must be quick.
Or, to make it more graceful - but still parallel - in this instance, you can just list the final
adjectives of the clause:
On the last night of awesome ninja training, the Master told his students that they must be
stealthy, cunning, and quick. That's ninja-esque.

Comparison Sentences
Comparison sentences can also be parallel or not parallel.
EXAMPLE:
I like to time travel more than flying.
Or you can use the infinitive form in both cases:
like to time travel more than I like to fly.
Either way, the sentence is now balanced.

Verb Tenses
When writing parallel sentences, you also want to make sure your verb tenses are the same.
Sentence Structure: Identify and Avoid 'Mixed Structure' Sentences
Understanding Mixed Sentence Structure
Sounds a little funny, doesn't it?
That's an example of a mixed structure sentence.

https://prezi.com/kgtpofetjbfn/english-grammar/

http://literarydevices.net/parallelism/

Parallelism Definition

Parallelism is the use of components in a sentence that are grammatically

the same; or similar in their construction, sound, meaning or meter.
Parallelism examples are found in literary works as well as in ordinary
conversations.

This method adds balance and rhythm to sentences giving ideas a

smoother flow and thus can be persuasive because of the repetition it
employs. For example, Alice ran into the room, into the garden, and into
our hearts. We see the repetition of a phrase that not only gives the
sentence a balance but rhythm and flow as well. This repetition can also
occur in similar structured clauses e.g. Whenever you need me,
wherever you need me, I will be there for you.

Common Parallelism Examples

Like father, like son.

The escaped prisoner was wanted dead or alive.
Easy come, easy go.
Whether in class, at work or at home, Shasta was always busy.
Flying is fast, comfortable, and safe.
http://www.grammarly.com/handbook/sentences/parallelism/1/parallelism-
in-writing/

Parallelism In Writing
In writing, parallelism refers to balance and equality. In order for the reader to
understand what the writer means, the words must make sense in time and space. If you
start talking about one thing one way, you cant mid-sentence switch to talking about
something else a different way.

I will stop working on my speech and went to the movies.

This sentence isnt parallel because the verb tenses dont make chronological sense.

I stopped working on my speech and went to the movies.

I will stop working on my speech and go to the movies.
I stopped working on my speech, and I like to watch movies.

The problem with this sentence involves both the verb tenses and the subject matter.
The only way to deal with this is to write it as two sentences.

I stopped working on my speech and went to a movie. I like to watch movies.

Sharon needs to work on both grammar and she needs to learn to spell.

The problem in this sentence is because everything hinges on both. If we separated the
clauses into sentences, wed see the problem:

Sharon needs to work on grammar.

Sharon needs to work on she needs to learn to spell.

Obviously, the second sentence doesnt work. The first sentence is alright, though, so
we can use that as our template for the second clause.

Sharon needs to work on both gramma r and spelling .

Mary likes to shop and jogging.
Mary like shopping and jogging .
Mary likes to shop and to go jogging .

Faulty parallelism usually involves a problem with verb form, but you should look for
nouns, adverbs, and adjectives, too.

Public transit such as buses or a train can help reduce air pollution.
Public transit such as buses or trains can help reduce air pollution.
The chef swiftly and with efficiency rolled out the pizza dough and covered it with toppings.
The chef swiftly and efficiently rolled out the pizza dough and covered it with toppings.