It can be hard to see this problem in a longer sentence. Look at the sentence below. Can you find the problem with it?

We should do these things to improve living conditions, increasing volunteer work and for keeping our community spirit stronger.

You may understand the sentence, but it just seems clumsy to you. Look at the underlined words. Could they be written in the same way? This would be a better way to write the sentence:

We should do these things to improve living conditions, to increase volunteerism, and to keep our community spirit strong.

We fixed the sentence by making the structure of the ideas the same.

Exercise 1

Fix the following sentences

1. They had dog teams to travel to town and back in the winter which often makes it difficult to get things you needed.

2. At suppertime, Dad came in with sawdust all over his clothes and face and grinning from ear to ear.

3. He made the crow a cage which had all the comforts of home: light bulb to keep warm, drinking water and food.

4. When I was young and in school, I was never able to have friends because we are moving from place to place.

5. When he comes home, he was very tired.

6. I enjoy watching my friend eat because he had such a good appetite.

7. When I was about five years old, I am put in a boarding school for a short time.