Parallel construction is the repetition of the same initial words in a sequence of phrases or sentences. As a desirable way to word the main points within the overall structure of a speech. But parallel construction also works in introductions as a way to focus listeners on a vital first thought. Note, for example, how Leslie Eason introduced her classroom tribute to golfer Tiger Woods:
You’re at the Western Open where Tiger Woods could be Elvis resurrected. People clap when he pulls out the club, they clap when he hits the ball, they clap no matter where that ball lands. They clap if he smiles. They clap because he is.
Parallel construction also can work in conclusions, when it puts the final imprint on thoughts developed in the speech. Senator Dan Coats of Indiana, speaking at the Stony Brook School after a discussion of the Holocaust, used the following parallel construction:
Hate is not dead. It does not even sleep.
We see it displayed in racism that finds new victims, and reopens old wounds.
We see it when a synagogue is desecrated.
We see it when a homosexual is attacked and beaten.
We saw it when flame touched tinder in Los Angeles and Asian shopkeepers were assaulted in the riot.
We saw it in Florida when a murder was committed in the name of the pro-life cause.3°
Parallel construction suggests strength of conviction, a desirable trait of ethos.
18 May
