Name:
_________________________________________________ Period: ____ Date:
_______________
Imitate the Rhythms of Parallel Structure
Directions: Like you did in your “Where I’m From” poems, in this activity, you will practice parallel
structure. I expect to see this same parallel structure in your persuasive
choice writes and essay. Please fill in the parallel image blanks below as they
apply.
1. Between what _______________
_______________ ______________ and what _______________ ___________________ _______________,
between what _____________________ and what never __________________, between
the _____________________ of ________________ and the _______________ of
_________________ lies the _________________ of ________________.
2. Some days you _______________ _______________. Some days
you_____________ _________________. Some days you
____________ ______________. Some days you
_______________ _____________ __________________ ______________. Some
days are made for ________.
3. If there are no _______________, if _______________ really don't exist, if
_______________ are only a myth, then how do you explain the_______________ ? How do you explain the _______________
? And most of all, how do you explain the _______________? Beyond
_______________ lies the_______________.
4. When _____________________________________________,
when_____________________________________________, and
when________________________________________, only then
will____________________________________.
5. This is a (man / woman) who _____________________________, a (man / woman)
who ___________________________________, and a (man / woman)
who__________________________________________. This
is_____________________________.
6. This was a place where _____________________ ______________
_____________________, where ___________________________ ______________
_____________, and where______________________ _____________________________.
Literal Repetition
Perhaps
I am very ill, I thought. Perhaps I am imagining things. Perhaps
I am a little delirious. --- Roald Dahl
Grammatical Repetition
Repeated Clause Structures
(subordinate/coordinate conjunctions, relative pronouns)
Near the banks of the
Muscatatuck where once the woods had stretched,
dark row on row, and where the fox grapes and wold
mint still flourished, Jess Birdwell, an Irish Quaker, built his white
clapboard house. --- Jessamyn West
Repeated Phrases
(absolutes, appositives, participles, prepositions, noun and verb phrases)
Without the hatchet
he had nothing---no fire, no tools, no weapons. --- Gary Paulsen
Beyond the
tennis courts and the big oval track, beyond the stand of pine trees that
bordered the school campus, a charming lake emptied into a wild, white
river. --- Caroline Cooney
With
this palette teachers may want to distribute the list of prepositions,
subordinate conjunctions, coordinate conjunctions, and relative pronouns to
help students create structural patterns. So students can see a few examples of
these techniques used by other students, pass out these samples:
When
man starts to respect himself, when man and nature
come together, and when all of mankind live in harmony, only then will there be
peace. --- Micki Keyser
In
his mind he can create them. In his soul he can believe them. In his heart he
can feel them. He is a writer, one who shows fact and fiction to the world. ---
Katie Chapell
Listen to the
trees. Listen to the birds. Listen to the winds. Listen to nature. --- Meredith
Bucur
Beseeching were his
eyes; fretting were his folds. Unwavering was his demeanor. But behind his
sorrowful gaze lies a mind more complex than you perceive, more deadly than
he'll ever know. --- Keir Marticke
Although
there has been no research into using structural palettes with writing, the use
of these formats for imitation would seem to help students develop a
subconscious repertoire of grammatical techniques.