Repetition and Parallelism

Repetition & Parallelism: What Are They?

When you repeat similar ideas or themes in your speech, you are using repetition as a stylistic choice. Similarly, parallelism is a structured use of repetition by using identical or equivalent constructions in corresponding clauses to express the same sentiment.

Why Use Them?

Parallelism is an especially effective technique to provide structure, order, and balance in your speech, in addition to clarifying your argument. Repetition also helps emphasize your point to your directly to your audience. The audience is more likely to remember something that has been repeated. Parallelism works the same way but without rote repetition of words or ideas and instead constructs them from similar examples.

How to Use Repetition and Parallelism

Repetition is fine in small doses, but you don't want to sound like a broken record. Consider using repetition of the same phrase or words only for those statements that you would like to be the most memorable and influential and weave them throughout your speech. You can also use them in close proximity for an especially dramatic effect. For example:

"Even though large tracts 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." - Winston Churchill

Parallelism is a very effective way to break up your use of repetition by laying out many different ways of expressing the same thought or idea. See below how parallelism was used in these two speakers:

"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty." - John F. Kennedy

"Today's students can put dope in their veins or hope in their brains. If they can conceive it and believe it, they can achieve it. They must know it is not their aptitude but their attitude that will determine their altitude." - Reverend Jesse Jackson