How do you keep items in a list or comparison grammatically parallel, and compare logical like with like?
Parallel structure and comparisons: matching the grammatical form of items in a list or with correlative conjunctions, and ensuring a comparison compares logically comparable things, on Digital SAT form questions.
A focused answer to the Digital SAT parallelism skill: making list items and correlative pairs share the same grammatical form, and making comparisons logical by comparing like with like, with worked short-passage practice.
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What this skill is asking
Parallel structure means that items in a list, or joined by correlative conjunctions, share the same grammatical form. A logical comparison compares like with like. A Digital SAT form question tests both: a list whose items do not match, or a comparison that compares two unlike things. On the Digital SAT, the College Board (Standard English Conventions domain, form, structure and sense) checks that you can spot a broken pattern and choose the version that restores it. The skill is to read the established pattern and match it.
Parallelism in lists
A list sets a pattern with its first item or two. Every later item must follow it. Reading the first items tells you the form the answer must take.
"The job requires writing, editing, and publishing" is parallel (all "-ing"). Switching the last to "to publish" or "publication" breaks the pattern and is wrong.
Logical comparisons
A comparison must compare comparable things. The SAT plants comparisons that accidentally compare a thing to the wrong category.
Comparison signal words
The words than, as... as, like, and unlike signal a comparison, so when you see them, check that the two compared elements are the same kind. A common SAT fix uses a possessive to stand in for a repeated noun: "the new city's population grew faster than the old city's" means "than the old city's population," comparing population to population. Watching for the comparison signal and confirming like-with-like prevents the illogical-comparison error. A fast parallelism check is to line the items up vertically in your mind and read the word that opens each: if the first two open with "-ing" words and the third opens with "to," the mismatch jumps out, and the correct choice is simply the one that restores the shared opening word. The same vertical-alignment habit works for correlatives, where the structure after "not only" should mirror the structure after "but also." This skill rounds out the form, structure and sense cluster, alongside subject-verb agreement, verb tense and form, pronouns, modifiers, and plural and possessive nouns.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of College Board exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
Digital SAT R&W (style)1 marksWhich choice keeps the list parallel? 'The internship involved researching sources, drafting reports, and ____.' (A) to present findings (B) presentation of findings (C) presenting findings (D) findings were presentedShow worked answer →
The correct answer is (C), presenting findings.
The list uses "-ing" forms: "researching sources, drafting reports, and presenting findings." Parallel structure requires the third item to match: "presenting." Choice (A) "to present" is an infinitive; (B) "presentation" is a noun; (D) is a clause. None matches the "-ing" pattern of the first two items, so they break the parallelism. Match the form of the other list items.
Digital SAT R&W (style)1 marksWhich choice makes the comparison logical? 'The population of the new city grew faster than ____.' (A) the old city (B) the old city's (C) in the old city (D) the old ones'Show worked answer →
The correct answer is (B), the old city's.
The sentence compares the population of the new city to the population of the old city, so it must compare like with like: "grew faster than the old city's [population]." Choice (A) "the old city" compares a population to a city, which is illogical; (C) "in the old city" does not complete the comparison of populations; (D) "ones'" is plural and does not fit a single old city. The possessive "the old city's" stands in for "the old city's population."
Related dot points
- Subject-verb agreement: finding the true subject, ignoring intervening phrases, and matching a singular or plural verb, including with collective nouns and inverted sentences, on Digital SAT form questions.
A focused answer to the Digital SAT subject-verb agreement skill: identifying the true subject past intervening phrases, handling collective nouns and 'each/every,' and matching the verb's number, with inverted and there-is sentences.
- Verb tense and form: keeping tense consistent with the passage's time frame, using the perfect tenses for sequence, and distinguishing finite verbs from participles on Digital SAT form questions.
A focused answer to the Digital SAT verb tense and form skill: matching tense to the time markers in the passage, using past perfect for an earlier past event, and choosing a finite verb rather than a participle when the sentence needs one.
- Modifier placement: ensuring an introductory or descriptive modifier sits next to the word it describes, and fixing dangling modifiers by naming the right subject, on Digital SAT form questions.
A focused answer to the Digital SAT modifier skill: making an introductory modifier describe the noun that immediately follows, recognising dangling and misplaced modifiers, and fixing them by putting the right subject next to the modifier.
- Plural and possessive nouns: distinguishing a plain plural from a singular possessive and a plural possessive, placing the apostrophe correctly, and handling its versus it's, on Digital SAT form questions.
A focused answer to the Digital SAT apostrophe skill: telling a plain plural from a singular possessive and a plural possessive, placing the apostrophe before or after the s, and distinguishing its from it's and their from they're.
Sources & how we know this
- Reading and Writing: Content Domains and Skills — College Board (2024)
- Digital SAT Sample Questions — College Board (2024)