• Handbook Index
• Improving Your Writing Style
• Stages of the Writing Process
• Common Writing Assignments
• Grammar and Punctuation
• • Using Dashes
  • Using Commas
  • Using Semicolons
  • Using Coordinating Conjunctions
  • Using Conjunctive Adverbs
  • Subject-Verb Agreement
  • How to Proofread
  • Twelve Common Errors: An Editing Checklist
  • Clear, Concise Sentences
• Cite References in Your Paper
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4. Faulty parallelism

Be sure you use grammatically equal sentence elements to express two or more matching ideas or items in a series.

Incorrect

The candidate's goals include winning the election, a national health program, and the educational system.

Correct

The candidate's goals include winning the election, enacting a national health program, and improving the educational system.

Incorrect

Some critics are not so much opposed to capital punishment as postponing it for so long.

Correct

Some critics are not so much opposed to capital punishment as they are to postponing it for so long.