Virginia SOL 9.LU.1.A
The Standard
Use parallel structure across sentences and paragraphs to link and compare/contrast ideas in writing and speaking.
Virginia Standards of Learning for English · Grammar
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students shape related ideas with matching grammatical patterns. They carry those patterns across sentences and paragraphs so readers can track similarities, differences, and connections.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students spot uneven grammatical patterns and revise them for consistency. They use repeated sentence or paragraph patterns to make a comparison, contrast, or connection easy to follow.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think parallel structure applies only to lists within one sentence. They may mix verb forms, clauses, or sentence patterns when presenting paired ideas.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: Rewrite these lines with matching patterns: “Maya plans ahead and checks her work. Leo delays planning and his work is rarely checked.” Underline the repeated structure.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs sentence strips with mixed grammatical forms, then have them rearrange or rewrite each set into matching patterns.
Write two short paragraphs beginning with repeated frames such as “Both characters” and “Unlike Marcus” to compare characters from a shared text.
Play Parallel Structure Relay, with teams correcting one mismatched sentence before passing the marker to the next teammate.
Examine parallel phrasing in an advertisement or speech, then rewrite one section to make its comparison clearer.
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Printable 9.LU.1.A Worksheet
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Related Standards
- 10.LU.1.A
Use, edit, and revise parallel structure across complex sentences and paragraphs in writing.
- 5.W.2.A.iii
Using transition words and prepositional phrases for sentence variety and link one sentence and paragraph to another.
- 10.W.2.A.v
Using transitions effectively to connect ideas within and across paragraphs.
- 11.W.2.A.iv
Applying varied transitions and sentence structures to connect ideas within and across paragraphs.
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