英文寫作常見問題之一是句子的平行結構(或稱對稱結構 parallelism)，英文有時候像數學，也就是說當句子或單字結合在一起的時候，必須確保每一個部分都是「同等價值」，也就是必須是同樣的形式。
平行結構是什麼?
直接舉例，看你是否能發現其中的問題。
- 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.
有發現嗎？沒關係，我們把其中有問題的地方標出來了，而底線的地方則是平行結構的起始點。
- 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.
知道為什麼紅字部分錯了嗎? 下面分析句型給你看
- 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.”
這些句子就是不符合平行結構，句中的同等位置的單字沒有以同樣的文法形式呈現。
如何改正平行結構(parallelism)?
平行結構修改方法有三種，目的是為了讓每一個部分的語法形式都一致，我們利用上方的句子作範例說明。
方法一： 修改少數與其他文法形式不一致的部分
方法一是修正平行結構最簡單的方式，大部分句子都可以使用方法一來解決，但是複雜句或子句較多的長句，可能無法適用此方法，因為有可能會變動意思，此類句子推薦使用方法三來修正。
| 非平行結構句 | 正確平行結構句 | |
| 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： 修改多數與其他文法形式不一致的部分
要小心使用方法二，因為修改多數以配合少數的語法形式容易導致句子重複性高，見句一，因此我們只推薦方法一。 另外，方法二也無法避免變動句子意思的風險。
| 非平行結構句 | 正確平行結構句 | |
| 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
有時候修改句子可能需要將句子重組，否則可能會意外變動到原意。為避免失去句子原意，我們建議將句子衍伸。
| 非平行結構句 | 正確平行結構句 | |
| 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: 比較句
多數簡單的平行結構句子都是由”and,” “or,” 或 “but.”對等連接詞所連接，其他較複雜的句子結構則令人相當困擾，例如: 修飾子句的平行結構 (例:關係子句和分詞子句) 和比較子句 (例:相關連接詞)。
- 關係子句使用”that”或”which.”
- 分詞子句由動詞組成，功能如形容詞，例如:”This car is built to last.”
- 相關連接詞有 “not only…but also,” “either…or,” “neither…nor,” “if…then,” 等等
- 比較句的連接詞典型的有 “than” 或 “as.”
以上的句型皆須要使用平行結構!
在修改這一類的句子時， 找到前後部分並檢查是否兩邊都是同樣的文法形式。
| 非平行結構句 | 正確平行結構句 |
| 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:動詞時態轉換
另一個令人糾結的平行結構是動詞轉換。回想看看你是否有說過類似以下的句子:
- “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.
感覺很自然的句子，你發現錯在哪了嗎?
- “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.
句一的時態從現在轉到過去而句二則在that句子突然轉換成被動語態。現在來修正句子吧
- “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.
平行結構檢查一覽表
- 找出句中的連接詞
- 檢查連接詞左右方的單字或句子是否為同樣的形式，例如:動詞、名詞、形容詞、 -ing子句等等。
- 檢查句中的子句，是否在同等位置有類似的句子?
- 在句中的連接詞兩邊的動詞時態是否一致?
- 如果句中有列表，是否列表 (A, B, C, etc.) 內容物的語法形式皆一致?
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