5 Ways to Keep Parallel Lists on Track

5 Ways to Keep Parallel Lists on Track 5 Ways to Keep Parallel Lists on Track 5 Ways to Keep Parallel Lists on Track By Mark Nichol For many types of diagnostic posts on this site, in which I present a list of sentences with the same kind of error and describe the problem, I try to find real-world examples I’ve come across in editing projects or in casual reading, though sometimes I have to resort to constructing examples. One type of writing error I will never run out of live specimens for, however, is a lack of parallel structure in a run-in list. Here are just some of the many candidate sentences I’ve found: 1. â€Å"The game received prominent coverage in the video game media, high overall scores from professional reviewers, and has sold more than two million copies.† All items in a series must be accompanied by their own verbs or must share one there’s no middle ground: â€Å"The game received prominent coverage in the video game media, earned high overall scores from professional reviewers, and has sold more than two million copies.† (Or â€Å"The game received prominent coverage in the video game media and high overall scores from professional reviewers and has sold more than two million copies.†) 2. â€Å"It is fun, safe, convenient, saves energy, and a great place to meet and make new friends.† In this variation of the error illustrated in the first example, a list item equipped with its own verb is inserted among other items sharing a verb at the head of the sentence. Convert the errant item to a consistent form: â€Å"It is fun, safe, convenient, energy efficient, and a great place to meet and make new friends.† (Alternatively, tack the item on to the end of the sentence: â€Å"It is fun, safe, convenient, and a great place to meet and make new friends and it saves energy, too!†) 3. â€Å"There is an outdoor patio with picnic tables and barbecue, a fire pit with Adirondack chairs, walking trails, and beach access.† This construction implies that the fire pit has Adirondack chairs, walking trails, and beach access. To avoid implying a nonexistent association, relegate a complex list item among a string of simple items to the end of the sentence: â€Å"There is an outdoor patio with picnic tables and a barbecue, walking trails, and beach access, and a fire pit with Adirondack chairs.† (Also, I don’t understand why writers are so niggardly with the article a/an in run-in lists; I inserted one before barbecue.) 4. â€Å"Many animals such as deer, raccoon, coyote, fox, an occasional bobcat, mountain lion, and many bird species call this area home.† This sentence’s first item is an animal name that is identical in singular and plural form, and the wording of the head of the sentence suggests that all references to animals to follow will be in plural form. They’re not, and then â€Å"an occasional bobcat† distracts the reader, followed by a disorienting plural. Make the animal names consistently plural (with the necessary exception set aside as a parenthetical): â€Å"Many animals such as deer, raccoons, coyotes, foxes, mountain lions (and an occasional bobcat), and many bird species call this area home.† 5. â€Å"Miles of trails provide access through rugged chaparral, woodlands, fields, streams, a lake, and provide spectacular views.† Everything’s fine until you hit the water, and suddenly â€Å"miles of trails† is no longer relevant, except that it is for the final phrase. Retrofit the sentence to support its ideas: â€Å"Miles of trails provide spectacular views, and provide access through woodlands, fields, and rugged chaparral to streams and a lake.† (My assumption is that rugged refers only to chaparral, so move that phrase to the end of the initial list so it is not incorrectly applied to woodlands and fields as well.) Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Writing Basics category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:7 English Grammar Rules You Should KnowYay, Hooray, Woo-hoo and Other AcclamationsProverb vs. Adage

Top 3 Time Management Tools to Meet Deadlines for Your College Assignment

Top 3 Time Management Tools to Meet Deadlines for Your College Assignment Top 3 Time Management Tools to Meet Deadlines for Your College Assignment College life can be incredibly stressful for many students if they are not organized properly. Every individual is different while some live without noticing how time runs fast, others can’t realize how to succeed in performing all the task from a schedule. According to the study â€Å"The Impact of Time Management on the Students’ Academic Achievements†, time management is highly related to the student’s academic performance. So, the ability to effectively budget and manage time will have a positive impact on your student life and not only. The time management skill is especially important to ensure that you complete all your assignments in due time. How to Develop Time Management Skills? Being a student, you should understand that every assignment is important and failing to deliver a top-quality one on time can play a cruel joke with you. There is a big difference between focusing on schedule and being forced to finish the entire year of education. Furthermore, good skills at managing time can help you avoid unnecessary stress. You’ll be able to free up time for extracurricular activities. Granted, not everyone is good at efficient time management but there are ways to improve and make time for the studies and relax. 1.   Create a Schedule and Stick to It One of the easiest ways to ensure that you manage your time effectively is to create a daily schedule for yourself. While you are creating your schedule, you can determine what activities are a top priority and what activities are not so important. By doing so, you can ensure that you leave enough time on planning, research, writing and reviewing your assignments before the deadlines. For this purpose, use the following online app: Google Calendar. It is an online platform where you can create your schedule for the studies at university or college. Set time for particular tasks and this app will remind you what you should do in the nearest time. 2.   Use a Time Tracker Experienced the situation when you planned to spend 20 minutes on a task but finally spent an hour? It is a common practice among students. It’s one of the challenges to stick to schedule time. It happens only because of the lack of an instrument that you would use to measure time. You’re lucky to be focused on time with the help of: Tomighty. It is a timer that can help you be focused on a task and meet its deadline. Make an oath to finish, for example, in 30 minutes. Plunge into an assignment until the timer rings. It allows you to rest at the same time by taking little breaks as well. 3.   Block Yourself from Different Distractions Look around yourself to see what takes your attention. Is it a social media site that you check many times while working on an assignment? Thus, it‘s time to take control of your success by means of: Stay Focused. It is a block application that allows to reduce the daily usage of distracting websites. It is much better to keep focused on the brilliant academic performance than to waste time on social networking or messaging. Later, after you finish a task, feel free to communicate with pen-friends at your leisure. Identifying useful tools and resources can help you better manage your time, whether you are a part-time student or a full-time freshman. Avoid missing important deadlines. The most important tip to keep in mind is to always list your assignments in order of priority. The sooner you complete the task, the lower your stress levels will be. Learn not to put off your assignments until the last minute even if they are small. Even if you feel you don’t manage to submit a paper on time, don’t worry. Our certified specialists in custom assignment writing are able to boost your final score within the shortest deadline.