英语写作常见问题之一是句子的平行结构(或称对称结构parallelism)，也就是说当句子或单字结合在一起的时候，必须确保每一个部分都是「同等价值」，也就是必须是同样形式。
平行结构是什么呢?
直接举例，看你是否能发现其中的问题。
- I like apples, oranges, and going to the zoo.
- The coach advised that I should eat healthily, exercise regularly, and that joining a gym would make this easier.
- Mary is a celebrated author, dancer, and writes great songs.
有发现吗？没关系，我们把其中有问题的地方标出来了，而底线的地方则是平行结构的起始点。
- I like apples, oranges, and going to the zoo.
- The coach advised that I should eat healthily, exercise regularly, and that joining a gym would make this easier.
- Mary is a celebrated author, dancer, and writes great songs.
知道为什么红字部分错了吗? 下面分析句型给你看
- 句一 “I like noun, noun, and -ing phrase.”
- 句二 “The coach advised that I should: (1) verb; (2) verb; (3) that -ing phrase.
- 句三 “Mary is a noun, noun, and verb.”
这些句子就是不符合平行结构，句中的同等位置的单字没有以同样的文法形式呈现。
如何改正平行结构(parallelism)?
平行结构修改方法有三种，目的是为了让每一个部分的语法形式都一致，我们利用上方的句子作范例说明。
方法一： 修改少数与其他文法形式不一致的部分
方法一是修正平行结构最简单的方式，大部分句子都可以使用方法一来解决，但是复杂句或子句较多的长句，可能无法适用此方法，因为有可能会变动意思，此类句子推荐使用方法三来修正。
| 非平行结构句 | 正确平行结构句 | |
| 1 | I like apples, oranges, and going to the zoo. | I like apples, oranges, and zoos. |
| 2 | The coach advised that I should eat healthily, exercise regularly, and that joining a gym would make this easier. | The coach advised that I should eat healthily, exercise regularly, and join a gym. (Here, we lose some meaning regarding the fact that joining a gym would make exercising easier.) |
| 3 | Mary is a celebrated author, dancer, and writes great songs. | Mary is a celebrated author, dancer, and songwriter. |
方法二： 修改多数与其他文法形式不一致的部分
要小心使用方法二，因为修改多数以配合少数的语法形式容易导致句子重复性高，见句一，因此我们只推荐方法一。另外，方法二也无法避免变动句子意思的风险。
| 非平行结构句 | 正确平行结构句 | |
| 1 | I like apples, oranges, and going to the zoo. | I like eating apples, eating oranges, and going to the zoo (“eating” is repetitive). |
| 2 | The coach advised that I should eat healthily, exercise regularly, and that joining a gym would make this easier. | The coach recommended exercising regularly, eating healthily, and joining a gym. (Here, we lose some meaning regarding the fact that joining a gym would make exercising easier.) |
| 3 | Mary is a celebrated author, dancer, and writes great songs. | Mary is celebrated because she writes books, dances, and writes great songs. |
方法三： 拆解句子
有时候修改句子可能需要将句子重组，否则可能会意外变动到原意。为避免失去句子原意，我们建议将句子衍伸。
| 非平行结构句 | 正确平行结构句 | |
| 1 | I like apples, oranges, and going to the zoo. | I like eating apples and oranges. I also like going to the zoo. |
| 2 | The coach advised that I should eat healthily, exercise regularly, and that joining a gym would make this easier. | The coach advised that I should eat healthily and exercise regularly. He also told me that joining a gym would make working out easier. |
| 3 | Mary is a celebrated author, dancer, and writes great songs. | Mary is a celebrated author and dancer. She also writes great songs. |
注意: 比较句
多数简单的平行结构句子都是由”and,” “or,” 或”but.”对等连接词所连接，其他较复杂的句子结构则令人相当困扰，例如: 修饰子句的平行结构(例:关系子句和分词子句) 和比较子句(例:相关连接词)。
- 关系子句使用”that”或”which.”
- 分词子句由动词组成，功能如形容词，例如:”This car is built to last.”
- 相关连接词有 “not only…but also,” “either…or,” “neither…nor,” “if…then,” 等等
- 比较句的连接词典型的有 “than” 或 “as.”
以上的句型皆须要使用平行结构!
在修改这一类的句子时， 找到前后部分并检查是否两边都是同样的文法形式。
| 非平行结构句 | 正确平行结构句 |
| I like the big house built in 1910 and features two great living rooms. | I like the big house built in 1910 that features two great living rooms. (Eliminate the problematic parallel structure by removing the conjunction.) |
| Mary owns a PR company, a place giving many growth opportunities and where people are rewarded based on merit (participial phrase + subordinate clause). | Mary owns a PR company, a place giving many growth opportunities where people are rewarded based on merit. (Deleting the “and” fixes the parallelism issue. This method works for most cases where a participial phrase and subordinate clause are connected by a conjunction.) |
| I not only like to play the violin, but also dancing. | I not only like to play the violin, but I also like to dance. OR I like to not only play the violin but also dance. |
| Either we go to the store now or wait until next week. | Either we go to the store now or we wait until next week. |
| I prefer to go on a vacation than a bonus. | I prefer to go on a vacation than to receive a bonus. |
注意:动词时态转换
另一个令人纠结的平行结构是动词转换。回想看看你是否有说过类似以下的句子:
- “I really like this movie, which was why I bought it.”
- We knew that we had little time, work had to be finished, and we needed to hurry.
感觉很自然的句子，你发现错在哪了吗??
- “I really like this movie, which was why I bought it.”
- We knew that we had little time, work had to be finished, and we needed to hurry.
句一的时态从现在转到过去而句二则在that句子突然转换成被动语态。现在来修正句子。
- “I really like this movie, which is why I bought it.”
- We knew that we had little time, we had to finish the work, and we needed to hurry.
平行结构检查一览表
- 找出句中的连接词
- 检查连接词左右方的单字或句子是否为同样的形式，例如:动词、名词、形容词、 -ing子句等等。
- 检查句中的子句，是否在同等位置有类似的句子?
- 在句中的连接词两边的动词时态是否一致?
- 如果句中有列表，是否列表 (A, B, C, etc.) 内容物的语法形式皆一致?
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