A Question of Parallelism

Lynell writes:
Hoping you can answer the following question. Which is correct? The first or the second sentence below?

Visitors to the Outer Banks enjoy world-class sportfishing, eight championship golf courses, boating, windsurfing, hang gliding, and we're one of the top destinations in the world for shipwreck diving.

Visitors to the Outer Banks enjoy world-class sportfishing, eight championship golf courses, boating, windsurfing, hang gliding, and one of the top destinations in the world for shipwreck diving.

The second version is correct.

This is what we call "parallelism"—using the same parts of speech in a string of words or phrases. Writers can run into trouble especially when the string of word follows a verb. In Lynell's example, the verb is "enjoy." Let's break the sentence down.

Vistors to the Outer Banks enjoy
world-class sport fishing
eight championship golf courses
boating
windsurfing
hang gliding
and
one of the top destinations in the world for shipwreck diving

When we organize it like that, it's clear that every item in the list stems from "enjoy."

The first version is almost correct. Every item before the last one stems from "enjoy." If we put an "and" between "windsurfing" and "hang gliding," we could then use the remaining "and" to link two independent clauses.

Parallelism can cause other problems as well. Sometimes we need parallel grammatical forms:
Planning for disaster is wiser than to react when it strikes.

This would work better with either two infinitive phrases or two gerund phrases:
To plan for disaster is wiser than to react when it strikes.
Planning for disaster is wiser than reacting when it strikes.

Words like either and whether usually signal a parallel structure immediately following:
We must either
retrain our staff
or
lose our competitive edge.

He didn't know whether
to laugh
or
to cry when he heard the news.

Comments

[Lynell]

Thanks for your elucidation.

I must either
convince my client to quit correcting my copy
or
resolve myself to have poor grammar on the website.

Kindest Regards,

Lynell

[Ronnie Roach]

I would agree - the second sentence is correct. You could also add sightseeing, surfing and kiteboarding to the list.

[Murphy]

In the interest of utter parallelism, I probably should hve gone with "golfing on eight championship courses." It's one word less economical, but it preserves the litany of gerunds.