Use Parallel Construction in Technical Writing, whenever possible

© 2010 Ugur Akinci

Try to write in sentences that have similar syntaxes and components. Construct your sentences and paragraphs with “parallel,” i.e. similar, components. That increases audience comprehension and retention. It makes your technical documents more user-friendly.

For example, if you start the first sentence in a  procedural description with an action verb, start all others with action verbs as well.

Parallel Construction (GOOD):

1. Plot the data.
2. Trace the data curve to determine the x-distance between the beginning and end of one complete cycle.
3. Write the Plot Report.

Unparallel Construction (BAD):

1. Plot the data.
2. To determine the x-distance between the beginning and end of one complete cycle, the data curve must be traced.
3. At this point, you should start writing the Plot Report.

Parallel Construction (GOOD):

In this class the students will learn about numeric notation, graph types, and split-screen modes. (OBJECTS of the sentence are all NOUNS.)

Unparallel Construction (BAD):

In this class the students will learn about numeric notation, how to shift from one graph type to another, and they will also be presented information about split-screen modes. (OBJECTS of the sentence are all different grammatical components.)