SAT Parallel Structure Rules
By the Cheetah Prep team
When a sentence lists items or draws a comparison, the parts have to match in form: all the verbs in the same form, all nouns, all phrases built the same way. The SAT breaks the pattern with one item that does not fit, like writing reports, data entry, and to answer calls.
For comparisons, the two things compared have to be logically alike too. The climate of the coast is milder than the mountains wrongly compares a climate to mountains. The fix compares climate to climate: milder than that of the mountains. Read every list and comparison for matching shape.
The Parallel Structure Rules the SAT Tests
Items in a list share the same form
Every item in a series must match in grammatical form, all nouns or all verbs of the same type.
The internship involved writing reports, data entry, and to answer calls.
The internship involved writing reports, entering data, and answering calls.
On the SAT: The SAT breaks the pattern with one item in a different form.
Comparisons must be parallel
The two things being compared must be grammatically and logically alike.
The climate of the coast is milder than the mountains.
The climate of the coast is milder than that of the mountains.
On the SAT: The SAT compares mismatched things, like a person to an action or a book to an author.
Drill Parallel Structure on Real Questions
Knowing a rule and spotting it under time pressure are different skills. The diagnostic shows whether parallel structure is costing you points, and Cheetah Prep drills each rule in real digital SAT questions until you catch the pattern on sight.
More SAT grammar topics