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Common Core ELAGrades 9–10Language

L.9-10.1: Parallel Structure, Phrases and Clauses

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.9-10.1 · Cluster: Conventions of Standard English.

Make a Parallelism ScrambleAll 41 Grades 9–10 ELA Standards

The Official Wording

Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.

Common Core State Standards, Grades 9-10, Language · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026

What L.9-10.1 Means in Plain English

Ninth and tenth graders put items in a series in the same form: to drill, to set and to watch, not to drill, setting and you watch. They vary sentences with phrases and clauses chosen on purpose, like an absolute phrase (her mittens soaked) that adds a detail.

Eighth graders (L.8.1) worked on verbals, voice and mood. Now those verbals line up: a series of gerunds or infinitives is where parallelism usually breaks. In grades 11 and 12 (L.11-12.1), students treat usage as a changing convention and settle disputes with a usage guide.

L.9-10.1 I Can Statements

  • I can keep every item in a series in the same form.
  • I can fix a list that mixes gerunds, infinitives and clauses.
  • I can add detail with an absolute or participial phrase.

L.9-10.1 Worked Example

Two sentences from a narrative about a winter guide, first with a broken series and choppy sentences, then fixed.

Prompt

Fix the parallel structure in the first sentence, then combine the last two sentences using an absolute phrase. “The guide showed us drilling a hole with the auger, how to set the tip-up, and to keep the line from freezing. She worked for an hour without stopping. Her mittens were soaked through.”

Not YetThe guide showed us drilling a hole with the auger, how to set the tip-up and keeping the line from freezing. She worked for an hour without stopping, and her mittens were soaked through.The series still mixes a gerund phrase, a noun clause and another gerund phrase. Joining the last two sentences with and makes a compound sentence, not an absolute phrase, and it puts the mittens on the same level as the hour of work.
Meets the StandardThe guide showed us how to drill a hole with the auger, set the tip-up and keep the line from freezing. Her mittens soaked through, she worked for an hour without stopping.All three items now follow how to: drill, set, keep. Her mittens soaked through is an absolute phrase, a noun with a participle and no main verb, so it adds the detail to the sentence without competing with the action.
Moves to Use
Items joined by and or or take the same grammatical form.Find the words the series hangs on (how to) and match every item to them.An absolute phrase is a noun plus a participle with no main verb: her mittens soaked through.Use the absolute for a detail that sets the scene, and keep the main clause for the action.

Common Mistakes with L.9-10.1

Hearing parallelism only in short lists

Students fix “running, jumping and to swim” but miss a series spread across three long phrases

Try this: Have students box the first word of each item in a series and check that every boxed word is the same form.

Calling any -ed phrase an absolute

“Soaked through, she kept working” labeled an absolute phrase

Try this: Teach the test: an absolute has its own noun (her mittens soaked through); a participial phrase leans on the main subject.

Variety as random decoration

A paragraph where every sentence opens with a different phrase type, chosen to tick boxes

Try this: Ask students to justify each phrase or clause they add by naming what it does: time, cause, scene or contrast.

Where L.9-10.1 Fits

Comes BeforeL.8.1Explain what gerunds, participles and infinitives do, and use voice and mood correctly.
AlongsideL.9-10.3Choose sentence forms for meaning and style, and write to a style manual.W.9-10.3Write narratives where a well-placed absolute phrase sets a scene in a few words.
Comes NextL.11-12.1Treat usage as a convention that changes, and resolve contested points with a usage guide.

Practice L.9-10.1

Sentence Scramble GeneratorFree ToolScramble sentences built on a three-part series or an absolute phrase, so students rebuild each one and check that every item in the series matches.Parallel structureAbsolute phrasesHigh school
Make a Scramble

Quick Check

  1. Why is the series in the original sentence not parallel?
  2. What makes “Her mittens soaked through” an absolute phrase?
  3. Make this parallel: “The job requires patience, being strong and that you can read the weather.”

L.9-10.1: Other Names

L.9-10.1CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.9-10.1

Common Core State Standards © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved. Official wording from the Common Core State Standards PDFs at corestandards.org, last checked October 14, 2026. The explanation, I can statements, example, mistakes and practice on this page are EMStudio’s own, written beside the official wording. They are not part of the standard.