Analyzing and Interpreting Literature CLEP Prep Practice Exam

What is a parallelism?

1. A comparison between two characters.

2. A reference to a previous event in literature.

3. A situation in which both protagonists reach roughly the same level of understanding.

4. The use of similar syntactical structures or phrases.

The correct answer is: The use of similar syntactical structures or phrases.

Parallelism refers to the use of similar grammatical structures or phrases in a sentence or passage. This helps to create a sense of balance and repetition, making the writing more impactful and easier to follow. Option A is incorrect because a comparison between characters would not involve grammatical structures. Option B is incorrect because a reference to a previous event would not necessarily involve similar syntactical structures. Option C is incorrect because the protagonists reaching the same level of understanding may not involve grammatical structures or phrases. Therefore, option D is the correct answer as it directly relates to the definition of parallelism.