# Balanced sentence

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{{Short description|Sentence that employs parallel structures of approximately the same length and importance}}
A '''balanced sentence''' is a [sentence](/source/Sentence_(linguistics)) that employs [parallel structure](/source/parallel_structure)s of approximately the same length and importance.

==Examples==
#"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." (''[A Tale of Two Cities](/source/A_Tale_of_Two_Cities)'')<ref name="ex1">{{cite web|url= http://writing2.richmond.edu/writing/wweb/parstruc.html|title=Focusing Sentences Through Parallelism|accessdate=2008-03-11| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20080308223348/http://writing2.richmond.edu/WRITING/wweb/parstruc.html| archivedate= 8 March 2008 | url-status= live}}</ref>
#"White chickens lay white eggs, and brown chickens lay brown eggs; so if white cows give white milk, do brown cows give chocolate milk?"<ref name="ex1"/>
#From [Abraham Lincoln](/source/Abraham_Lincoln)'s 1863 [Gettysburg Address](/source/Gettysburg_Address), two powerful examples:  "But in a larger sense, '''we cannot dedicate—we cannot consecrate—we cannot hallow—'''this ground." and "...that government '''of the people, by the people, for the people''', shall not perish from the earth."

==References==
{{reflist}}

==See also==
* [Parallelism (grammar)](/source/Parallelism_(grammar))
* [Parallelism (rhetoric)](/source/Parallelism_(rhetoric))
* [Sentence clause structure](/source/Sentence_clause_structure)

{{Lexical categories}}

Category:Grammar
Category:Style (fiction)
Category:Narratology
Category:Writing

{{Syntax-stub}}

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