Question

Which sentence is an example of faulty parallelism?

A Turning sharply, gaining momentum, and to gently rise are a few surfing maneuvers.
B Individual surfboards very in length, width, and weight.
C Compared to short boards, long boards or longer, wider, and heavier.
D In the competition, surfers are judged on the size of the wave and the difficulty of their maneuvers.

Answer 1

Answer: A Turning sharply, gaining momentum, and to gently rise are a few surfing maneuvers.

Parallelism is the use of elements that are grammatically the same, or similar in their construction or meaning. It is used to add rhythm to a sentence, increase clarity and make it more persuasive.

In this case, "turning sharply" and "gaining momentum" are both written in a progressive tense to make them into nouns, while "to gently rise" is using an infinitive. The correct version would be:

Turning sharply, gaining momentum, and gently rising are a few surfing maneuvers.