Grammatical parallelism, parallel structure, parallel construction, parallel form (2)

Grammatical parallelism is the use of equivalent syntax to array equivalent ideas. Grammatical parallelism is also known as parallel structure, parallel construction, and parallel form.

On August 20 we discussed a portion of a speech by Winston Churchill (photo), in which he used a memorable series of nouns: “blood, toil, tears and sweat.”

It was a good example of parallelism – each of the equivalent ideas was expressed by a one-word noun. But equivalent ideas may also be expressed as phrases or clauses.

An example of parallelism

Today we critique an example of parallelism involving clauses. It’s an excerpt from another speech by Mr. Churchill; he delivered this speech to the House of Commons on June 4, 1940. Very likely, you are familiar with it.

The excerpt:

“Even though large parts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender…”

This excerpt is, of course, famous for the use of clauses beginning with “We shall fight.” This is an example of parallelism. It is also an example of the rhetorical devices known as anaphora and asyndeton.

Parallelism, by itself, is a powerful device. But the masterly Mr. Churchill added even more power, by brilliantly executing the device. Let’s take a look at three details of the execution.

Avoiding overuse

The first detail is that he takes care to avoid overusing the powerful device of parallelism and thereby tiring the reader. He begins eleven clauses with “we shall” – but only seven of them include the word “fight.”

He begins with:

we shall not flag or fail
we shall go on to the end

They create a rhetorical warm-up for the reader before three “we shall fight” clauses in a row:

we shall fight in France
we shall fight on the seas and oceans
we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air

Notice that in the third of those clauses Mr. Churchill inserts a prepositional phrase (“with growing confidence and growing strength”) before the expected prepositional phrase beginning with “in” or “on.”

Then he makes an even wider detour with the rhetorically beautiful phrase

we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be

And then back again to the “we shall fight” clauses:

we shall fight on the beaches
we shall fight on the landing grounds
we shall fight in the fields and in the streets
we shall fight in the hills

And then a simply worded but powerful conclusion:

we shall never surrender…

In summary, he intentionally breaks up the rhythm now and then, so as to add variety and avoid using 11 “we shall fight” clauses in a row.

Scorning the enemy

The second detail is that he never says “The Germans” or “The Axis.” He doesn’t even say “the enemy” or even “them.” It would have been quite natural to have said, “We will fight them...” The hearer or reader consciously or unconsciously notices this omission of a direct object; by omitting the expected direct object, Mr. Churchill silently and cleverly scorns the enemy.

(Before he gets to the “we shall” clauses, he does refer to “the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule.” But these words also scorn the enemy, by referring not to the German state but only to its police department and its ruling political party.)

Using the sequence to tell a story

The third detail is the sequence of the places where “we shall fight.” The sequence tells a story. Picture the story in your mind:

in France
on the seas and oceans
in the air

(we shall defend our Island)

on the beaches
on the landing grounds
in the fields and in the streets
in the hills

(we shall never surrender)

You see it. He begins by referring to the then-current battle in France. Then he imagines the sea and air defenses against an invasion of his country, Great Britain. He summarizes this part of the imagined war with “we shall defend our Island.”

Then he imagines that those defenses may fail, and he imagines the first land-based defenses against the invader: on the beaches and landing grounds.

Then he imagines that those defenses may fail in turn, and he imagines the deeper-inland defenses in the rural fields and city streets.

Then he imagines that even those defenses may fail, and he imagines the last place where the defender of an invaded country ends up fighting: in the hills. He summarizes this part of the imagined war with “we shall never surrender.”

The Takeaway: Grammatical parallelism (also called parallel structure, parallel construction, and parallel form) is a powerful device. Use it where appropriate and as appropriate and you will make your prose clear, pleasant and persuasive.