Bran B.

asked • 08/30/15

Which one of these sentences has parallel structure?

The paintings of Albrecht Dürer are described as impressionistic, religious, and varied in technique.
 
The paintings of Albrecht Dürer are described as showing impressionism, bearing religious, and varied in
technique.
 
The paintings of Albrecht Dürer are described as impressionism, religious, and variations in technique.
 

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Andrew M. answered • 08/31/15

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I know the answer will be the first sentence:
 
The paintings of Albrecht Dürer are described as impressionistic, religious, and varied in technique.
 
But, as a math major, I'm not certain what the grammatical explanation is.
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Ed M.

A grammarian butts in: yes, the phrase impressionistic, religious, and varied in technique in the first sentence displays parallel structure in that you have three adjective phrases (two of which, impressionistic and religious, consist of a single adjective) joined by coordination, namely an explicit and between religious and varied in technique and an "understood" and (which is substituted for by a comma in writing and a juncture, or slight pause, along with a non-falling tone in speech) joining impressionistic and religious. The tricky part is recognizing that varied, morphologically (i.e., in form) the -ed or past participle form of the verb vary, is functioning here as an adjective, and its complementary prepositional phrase in technique certainly doesn't make the adjective function any easier to identify, and definitely apparently less "parallel" with the single-word adjective phrases impressionistic and religious.
 
That could even be why one might be tempted to say that showing impressionism, bearing religious, and varied in technique in the second sentence "looks" a little more parallel, but in this case really only the first two constituents are since these are both headed by a verb in the -ing form in contrast to varied. But beyond that, I'm not even sure what "bearing religious" is supposed to mean.
 
And of course in third sentence you've got impressionism, religious, and variations in technique which cannot be considered parallel under any analysis since you have the adjective religious fraudulently trying to bridge two noun phrases headed by the nouns impressionism and variations, respectively.
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08/31/15

Bran B.

Thank you so much. You have beyond a shadow of a doubt and solidly confirmed the answer I was going for. much appreciated!
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08/31/15

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