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Lesson 3

We will revisit the article “Why Do We Still Care About Shakespeare?” by Cindy Tumiel and examine how the author writes sentences with parallel structure, or parallelism, so we can add parallel structures to our own writing.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I apply correct and effective parallel structure to communicate ideas and achieve intended purposes?

Texts

Core

  • Digital Access
    • “Why Do We Still Care About Shakespeare?,” Cindy Tumiel, University of Texas at San Antonio, 2013

Materials

Tools

Reference Guides

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Read

We will examine the use and effect of parallel structure in the article “Why Do We Still Care About Shakespeare?”

Reread the following sentence from Paragraph 4 of “Why Do We Still Care About Shakespeare?” and pay attention to its structure:

“He is the greatest dramatist, the greatest poet and the greatest prose writer in the history of the language,” said Craven, who teaches undergraduate courses in Shakespeare and has seen all of his plays performed at least once.

This sentence utilizes parallel structure. Parallel structure uses the same pattern of words or phrases to show that all elements in the series have equal importance.

Write down this sentence in your Mentor Sentence Journal. Underline or highlight the phrases in the sentence that demonstrate parallel structure.

Activity 2: Read – Discuss

We will examine another example of parallel structure from John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address.

Writers and speakers use parallel structure to emphasize certain ideas.

Write down the following example of parallel structure from John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address in your Mentor Sentence Journal. Underline the words or phrases that are parallel.

“We observe today not a victory of party but a celebration of freedom—symbolizing an end as well as a beginning, signifying renewal as well as change.”

Discuss the following questions with a partner:

  1. What phrases are parallel in this sentence?

  2. What effect does the parallel structure have on the audience’s understanding of the speech?

Activity 3: Write

We will practice using parallel structure to add interest and emphasis to our own writing.

Use the mentor sentence from “Why Do We Care About Shakespeare?” or the mentor sentence from John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address to craft a sentence in your Mentor Sentence Journal about your favorite hobby using parallel structure.

Examine the following examples:

“In addition to building muscles or losing weight, exercise is a great way to relieve stress, improve mood, and increase energy levels.”

“I enjoy hiking in the woods not only as a way to get exercise but also as a way to relieve stress.”

Activity 4: Discuss – Write

We will share our sentences with partners to gain feedback to make improvements on our parallel structure.

With a partner, read your sentence aloud. Ask your partner the following questions:

  1. Does the sentence use a pattern of words or phrases that show parallel structure?

  2. How could the sentence be improved upon in order to emphasize the ideas it contains?

Make revisions to your sentence based on your partner’s answers.

As you continue to read the texts in this unit, use your Mentor Sentence Journal to identify sentences that stand out to you as interesting or that represent a strong example of a particular concept you have learned. You can use these sentences to build a writer’s toolbox, wherein you have a number of techniques at your disposal to use when writing.