Study for the Texas Education Agency Test. Engage with flashcards and multiple choice questions, complete with hints and explanations. Prepare for your exam!

Multiple Choice

Choose the sentence that uses parallel structure: 'She likes hiking, to swim, and biking.'

Parallel structure means keeping the same grammatical form for items in a series after a controlling verb. After likes, the three things should all be shaped the same way. “She likes hiking, swimming, and biking.” does that, with each item as a noun form ending in -ing, so the sentence reads evenly and clearly. This consistent pattern creates balance and avoids mixing different forms that can jar the reader. The other versions break that pattern. Using “to swim” swaps in an infinitive instead of a gerund, which disrupts the uniformity. Mixing different forms in the other options also disrupts the rhythm, making the list feel inconsistent. The sentence with the clear all -ing forms and the serial comma is the cleanest, most standard way to present a parallel list.

Parallel structure means keeping the same grammatical form for items in a series after a controlling verb. After likes, the three things should all be shaped the same way. “She likes hiking, swimming, and biking.” does that, with each item as a noun form ending in -ing, so the sentence reads evenly and clearly. This consistent pattern creates balance and avoids mixing different forms that can jar the reader.

The other versions break that pattern. Using “to swim” swaps in an infinitive instead of a gerund, which disrupts the uniformity. Mixing different forms in the other options also disrupts the rhythm, making the list feel inconsistent. The sentence with the clear all -ing forms and the serial comma is the cleanest, most standard way to present a parallel list.