Parallel structure and prepositions

[Shauna Franklin-High]

Hello, everyone. I’m here with a grammar question. The sentence in question is this:

“Kalayla's father, only present in brief flashbacks, seems to be the only potentially positive black role model, occupying an almost non-existent presence in the novel as well as Kalayla's own life.”

It has been suggested that this sentence is grammatically incorrect due to the lack of the preposition “in” before “Kalayla’s own life.” However, it is my understanding that if all elements in a parallel series take the same preposition (“in”) then the preposition need not be repeated. Please tell me your thoughts.

[MsH2k]

Hi.

It seems the error may have been marked to force clarity around what is actually parallel.

The participial phrase “occupying an almost non-existent presence in the novel as well as Kalayla's own life” could have two objects acted on by the participle occupying: a) an almost non-existent presence in the novel and b) Kalayla’s own life.

Repeating the preposition in would clarify that the almost non-existent presence occurred in two places: a) in the novel and b) in Kalayla’s own life.

These two references cover this situation well.
https://www.dailywritingtips.com/parall ... positions/
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writ ... iples.html

The examples in the first reference are kind of tricky, but the Purdue article does a great job of explaining participles.

I hope this has been helpful.

[Miriam Molina]

Hi.

It seems the error may have been marked to force clarity around what is actually parallel.

The participial phrase “occupying an almost non-existent presence in the novel as well as Kalayla's own life” could have two objects acted on by the participle occupying: a) an almost non-existent presence in the novel and b) Kalayla’s own life.

Repeating the preposition in would clarify that the almost non-existent presence occurred in two places: a) in the novel and b) in Kalayla’s own life.

These two references cover this situation well.
https://www.dailywritingtips.com/parall ... positions/
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writ ... iples.html

The examples in the first reference are kind of tricky, but the Purdue article does a great job of explaining participles.

I hope this has been helpful.

Hi, Donna. Thank you for the references. They will come in handy.

[MsH2k]

Hi, @Miriam Molina. You are very welcome.