Parallelism
Repetition of a grammatical pattern to connect or contrast ideas.
Parallelism repeats a grammatical structure across nearby phrases or clauses. The shared pattern gives the passage rhythm and makes the relationship between ideas easier to follow.
It can support antithesis, though the ideas need not oppose one another. Where chiasmus reverses a pattern, parallelism generally maintains the order of its corresponding parts.
Example
She keeps the letters; he keeps his distance.
In the workshop
Vary the content while keeping the grammatical pattern clear.
Related terms
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