PARALLEL STRUCTURE EXERCISES

A. Correct any errors in parallel structure in the following sentences.

1. The plaintiff was wasting the court’s time and prejudiced my client.

2. The investment firm must choose to either disclose its clients to the SEC or to immediately
return the funds to those clients.

3. Before crashing his car, the defendant smoked two marijuana cigarettes, drank sixteen ounces
of bourbon, and was swallowing three Valium pills.

4. Detective Cobb is a skilled forensic investigator with over 200 convictions under his belt and
who is admired by the junior officers of the police department.

5. The Disciplinary Board investigated Attorney Johnson when it was alleged that she misled the
court by failing to reveal unfavorable law, commingled personal and client funds, and there was
a conflict of interest because of a sexual relationship with a client’s former spouse.

6. Derek Jeter is not only a great fielding shortstop and he is also a superb hitter.

7. To legally register to vote, a person must have resided in the state for thirty days, be a United
States citizen, and committed no felony.

8. The plaintiff’s attorneys were bombastic, uncivil, and lacked competence.

9. My favorite activities are baseball, riding my bike, and playing piano.

10. Her chores were to polish the furniture, sweep the floor, and to water the garden.

B. Choose the right option.

1) To be a good writer, you need to know a lot of vocabulary, and __________________ a lot of
books.
[ ]red
[ ]read
[ ]readed

2) Some of the jobs included: writing essays, correcting papers, and __________________ reports.
[ ]typed
[ ]typing
[ ]type
3) Unlike __________________, people in Canada cannot carry guns.
[ ]the USA
[ ]in the USA
[ ]people in the USA

4) The price of housing in Toronto is much higher than __________________ Saskatoon.

[ ]in
[ ]that of in
[ ]that in

5) Like __________________ in Canada, we also had to wear uniforms.

[ ]many students
[ ]many other private schools

6) I prefer eating good food and __________________.

[ ]wearing nice clothing
[ ]wear nice clothing
[ ]nice clothing

7) Having a car gives you many luxuries such as using the radio, playing music, and
__________________.
[ ]visit countries
[ ]visiting countries
[ ]visited countries

8) Having a computer is really bad: sometimes it lights on fire, and sometimes it

__________________.
[ ]explodes
[ ]explode
[ ]exploded

9) I broke my New Year's resolutions completely: I ditched school, drank beer, and
__________________ a lot of donuts.
[ ]eat
[ ]eaten
[ ]ate

10) The jobs of a student include handing in work on time, studying hard, and also
__________________.
[ ]having a good time
[ ]have a good
[ ]to have a good