THE TOEFL INDEPENDENT WRITING TASK - THE ESSAY (WRITING 5)

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In my previous posts on the Essay, I described the elements of the structure, and also a simple technique for planning this structure right. 

 

But we still need to include some elements of good writing in that essay, so that you can hope for a higher score when you do take the test. 

In this post I will refer to the concept of Parallel structures.

WRITING WITH PARALLEL STRUCTURES

This topic is connected to the style in which you write your essay for the independent task on the Toefl.

Is it important? Yes, indeed. This topic appears on a vast number of the texts that are offered on Toefl preparation and it is also in the rubric or list of criteria which tells us what the examiners will be looking for when they correct the essays.

SO WHAT ARE PARALLEL STRUCTURES?

The definitions state that when you write a sentence, you usually choose a certain grammatical structure. If you have a series of similar structures within the same sentence, you need to maintain the same pattern, and in this way, you will have created parallel structures.

Another explanation states that a parallel structure is the repetition of a chosen grammatical form within a sentence. The clue here is the idea that you have a “repetition” of some kind.

AN EXAMPLE OF A PARALLEL STRUCTURE

The easiest example is a sentence that contains a list, like the following:

Sam likes hiking, swimming, jogging and playing tennis.

In this list, the “chosen grammatical structure” is the use of gerunds to describe the elements of the list. Notice that all the parts of the list use the gerund form (-ing words). This is a parallel structure.

The following sentence does NOT use parallel structures properly:

Sam likes hiking, swimming, jogging and to play tennis.

In this case, the first three elements are in the -ing form and the last one has changed to an infinite form using “to”

When you write the TOEFL essay, you are expected to use structures like the first example and not the second example.

You will notice that the ideas are the same, and a person who is relatively fluent in English will understand both sentences, but the examiners really expect to read the first one!

SOME DIFFICULTIES CONNECTED TO PARALLEL STRUCTURES

In my personal experience, I have found that my students have some difficulty in grasping these ideas, and the main cause seems to be that they do not have a clear idea of the “parts of speech”, that is, they don’t easily identify the way words are classified, such as adjectives, nouns, adverbs, gerunds, infinitives, and so on.

If these concepts are not too clear, it is then difficult to know whether you are using the same structures when you write a complex sentence.

What I mean is, roughly, if you start off using adjectives and suddenly switch to adverbs, but you really are not too clear on the difference between an adjective and an adverb, how can you tell that the structure is not parallel?

In my experience when teaching for the TOEFL, I have often found it necessary to go back and review the parts of speech. 

This can cause unnecessary difficulties with the concept of “parallel structures” and we haven’t even started writing essays yet!

As you can see, this is not a topic that can be described in a few easy sentences.

MY PROPOSAL FOR A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THESE IDEAS

I want to break up this up into smaller subtopics, which would be:

• Use parallel structure when you connect two or more phrases with one of the following words: for, and,  but, or, nor, yet, so

• Use parallel structure when you connect two phrases with one of the following expressions:

(a)    not only…. but also  (b) either… or  (c) neither …. nor   (d) if ….then

• Use parallel structure when you connect two phrases with a word used for comparisons, such as than or as.

• Use parallel structure when you are enumerating  items in a list (as in the previous example)

I intend to write a couple of more posts, using these subtopics.

CONCLUDING WORDS

As I wrote in a previous post, the Essay that is obligatory on the TOEFL is considered to be the most difficult part of this test.

However, when working with my students who intend to take this test, I have observed that the first essay they present for my inspection is usually substandard, but by the third or fourth they have often improved tremendously. This makes them very happy and optimistic!

This task needs to be practiced and it’s really not very realistic to expect to get it right the very first time, unless you are very gifted.

This is the main purpose of this blog! So be sure to visit my future posts on this topic.

So let’s relax and enjoy a couple of beautiful photos. 

LOVELY FLOWERS! 

Delicate pink!

 

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Deep pink!

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© 2013  joveron  (Joan Robertson)

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