| 词组 | faulty parallelism |
| 释义 | faulty parallelism Faulty parallelism is a term used by composition teachers for the placement of different structures in coordination with each other. Very often such faulty parallelism occurs with the conjunctions and and or with such other coordinators as either and neither. Here are a couple of made-up examples for illustrative purposes: • The old car was a relic and rusty. To drink heavily and taking too many drugs are bad for your health. These examples—one from the teacher's guide to an English text and the other from a text reported in a technical journal—show the vice in a plain and simple form. In the first a noun and an adjective are coordinated; in the second, an infinitive phrase and a participial phrase. Those who teach composition in high school or in college are necessarily very fierce on such constructions. But when we get away from the writing of the tyro and into the world of the professional and presumably polished writer, we have a different problem. Faulty parallelisms still occur, but they tend to be almost invisible. This new invisibility would suggest that in edited prose faulty parallelism may generally be accounted a venial sin—if the writer doesn't notice it and the editor doesn't notice it and the reader doesn't notice it, how serious can it be? Moreover, what if the usage writer doesn't notice it? In Strunk & White 1959 we find this rule (printed in boldface italics in the book): • 15. Express co-ordinate ideas in similar form. This is followed by numerous examples of faulty parallelism, complete with corrected versions. We assume that E. B. White, who presumably polished this up from Strunk's original, believed in the rule. E. B. White the grammarian, at least. What about E. B. White the essayist? Joseph M. Williams, in "The Phenomenology of Error," (College Composition and Communications, May 1981) quotes this passage: • I have written this account in penitence and in grief, as a man who failed to raise his pig, and to explain my deviation from the classic course of so many raised pigs. The grave in the woods is unmarked, but Fred can direct the mourner to it unerringly and with immense good will... —"Death of a Pig," Essays of E. B. White, 1977 Did you notice any faulty parallelisms there? (Williams says there are two.) But White presumably didn't notice any, and neither have most of his readers. Here are a few more examples: • The award, which carries a $1,000 cash prize with it, goes to a trade-book editor under 40 who has shown special talent in discovering and/or getting the best work out of his authors —Victor S. Navasky, N. Y. Times Book Rev., 15 Apr. 1973 • ... the stripes are either plainer or appear more commonly in the young —Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, 1859 • In the Warrington family, and to distinguish them from other personages of that respectable race, these effigies have always gone by the name of 'The Virginians.' —W. M. Thackeray, The Virginians, 1857 (in A. S. Hill 1895) • ... a lady very learned in stones, ferns, plants, and vermin, and who had written a book about petals — Anthony Trollope, Barchester Towers, 1857 (in Hill) • ... before I was capable, either of Understanding my Case, or how to Amend it —Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders, 1722 You could probably find such examples by the dozen, if you were to sharpen your eye so as to be able to detect them readily. These are, as we said, venial sins; they are not ornaments or nice turns of phrase to be imitated. We think you should try to avoid them in your writing. But if you slip, no one may notice. |
| 随便看 |
英语用法大全包含2888条英语用法指南，基本涵盖了全部常用英文词汇及语法点的翻译及用法，是英语学习的有利工具。