| Parallel Construction in Questions |
| The verbs do and have can cause problems with parallelism, especially when they are used as auxiliary (helping) verbs in questions and negative situations. The following are examples of incorrect, non-parallel use of these verbs in questions. Have you got as much time as I do? Do you have as much time as I have? In both of these sentences, the auxiliary verbs do not correspond. The sentences should read Have you got as much time as I have? Do you have as much time as I do? The second question may be especially troublesome because both do and have are present. To avoid making errors in parallelism, it may be helpful to remember the rules of short answers to questions: if a question begins with have, the correct response is ‘Yes, I have’ or ‘No, I have not’; likewise, if a question starts with do, the correct response is ‘’Yes, I do’ or ‘No, I do not’. Negative statements also make use of auxiliary verbs; the rules of parallelism are the same as those for questions. The following two sentences are incorrect be cause the verbs are not parallel. You have not got as much time as I do. You do not have as much time as I have. Again, the first sentence may see more obviously incorrect than the first. Try to remember that, as in short answers to questions, it is the auxiliary verbs that should correspond. The two example sentences would be correctly written: You have not got as much time as I have. You do not have as much time as I do. |
| Have you skated as long as they have? |
| Do you skate as well as they do? |
| Woman: Do you want to try out for the Olympics? Man: Yes, I do. |
| Man: Have you got a routine in mind? Woman: No, I haven't. |
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