4.2 Parallel Structure and Word Order

Parallelism in Coordinated Series

Parallel structure means that elements joined by a coordinating conjunction (and, or, but) must share the same grammatical form. If the first item in a list is a gerund, every item must be a gerund; if the first is an infinitive, all must be infinitives. The TOEFL ITP loves to break this in the third or last item of a series, so when you see a list, compare the form of each part, not its meaning.

Example: The internship taught her to write reports, to manage a budget, and organizing events. The first two items are infinitives (to write, to manage), so the third must also be an infinitive — to organize events. The gerund organizing breaks the parallel and is the error.

Parallelism applies to any matched series: nouns with nouns (honesty, patience, and care, not being careful), adjectives with adjectives (quick, quiet, and efficient, not with efficiency), and clauses with clauses. The test rewards spotting the odd form out.

A reliable habit is to read the series aloud in your head and substitute each item into the slot of the first item. If the first item is to write, then every following item should also work as to ___ — to manage fits, but organizing does not. The moment one item refuses the pattern, you have found the error. Because the test almost always breaks the parallel in the last item, give the final element of any list extra scrutiny.

Correlative Pairs Must Be Balanced

Correlative conjunctions come in fixed two-part pairs, and the words after each part must be the same kind of structure. Memorize the pairs and what follows them:

Two common errors: (1) mismatched parts, such as not only ... but without also, or both ... as well as; and (2) broken parallelism across the pair, as in She is not only intelligent but also works hard — the parts must match, so it should be not only intelligent but also hardworking.

Inverted Word Order After Fronted Negatives

When a negative or limiting expression is moved to the front of a clause for emphasis, standard written English requires subject-verb inversion — the auxiliary verb jumps in front of the subject, exactly as in a question. This is heavily tested because it sounds odd to learners. Watch for these triggers at the start of a sentence:

• Never / Rarely / Seldom — Never has the team played better.
• Not until — Not until midnight did the results arrive.
• Hardly ... when / No sooner ... than — Hardly had we sat down when the lecture began. / No sooner had the bell rung than the room emptied.
• Only + time/place phrase — Only after the review did the board approve the plan.
• Not only (fronted) — Not only did the cost rise, but demand also fell.

If the fronted phrase is negative or limiting, expect auxiliary + subject + main verb, not normal subject + verb order.

Redundancy as a Grammatical Error

The test also flags redundancy when the repetition is grammatically wrong, not merely wordy. These pairs repeat a meaning already carried by another word:

• return back -> return already means 'go back' (delete back)
• repeat again -> repeat already means 'do again' (delete again)
• the reason is because -> use the reason is that or just because
• advance forward / progress forward -> advance already means 'go forward'
• brief in duration / small in size -> brief and small already say it

Worked Word-Order Example

Item: Not until the equipment was repaired (A) the technicians could (B) resume the (C) delicate measurements (D) safely.

The sentence opens with the fronted negative Not until, which forces inversion. The clause the technicians could resume uses normal subject-verb order, but it should invert to could the technicians resume. So part A — the un-inverted the technicians (with could after it) — is the error. Parts B, C, and D are all correct. The trigger word Not until is your signal to demand inversion.