📚 The Pattern Nobody Talks About — But Examiners Notice
📚 The Pattern Nobody Talks About — But Examiners Notice
A student analyses a speech and writes: “The third paragraph echoes the first one. It kind of repeats the structure.” This is exactly right — and also exactly L2. The student spotted it. They did not read it. Parallelism is the most grade-differentiating structural technique in Paper 2: almost every student recognises it; almost no one explains what the matching grammar does to the argument.
English Language glossary
- What is parallelism across paragraphs?
- Using matching grammatical structures at the same position in separate paragraphs. The grammar stays the same; the content changes. The technique links the paragraphs into a single accumulating argument.
Parallelism across paragraphs means the writer uses matching grammatical structures at the same position in separate paragraphs — typically the opening sentence — to create deliberate structural echo. The grammar does not vary; the content does.
Now try it yourself
Quiz · Question 1 of 10
What does parallelism across paragraphs involve?
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