High School

In preparing her outline, Tong ensures that all three of her main points have the same level of significance. Which tenet of outlining is Tong following?

a. Parallelism
b. Coordination
c. Subordination
d. Balance

Answer :

Final answer:

Tong is following the outlining tenet of coordination by ensuring all her main points have the same level of significance, which aids in maintaining clarity and a logical structure within her outline.

Explanation:

In preparing her outline, Tong is following the tenet of coordination. Coordination in outlining means that all of the points have the same level of significance in relation to the thesis or central idea of the main point. Since Tong ensures that all three of her main points are of equal importance, this is consistent with the principle of coordination. Coordination helps maintain clarity and a logical hierarchy in an outline, which contributes to the coherence and effectiveness of an overall presentation or essay.

The principle of parallelism is also an important aspect to consider in outlines, emphasizing that headings of the same level should use the same kind of language or grammatical structure. However, parallelism is not the tenet being applied by Tong as it does not relate to the level of significance of the points, but rather to the form they take. Subordination helps show the relationship between the main points and the supporting points, which is not the focus here. Lastly, while balance is a tenet of outlining that speaks to having a roughly equivalent amount of information for each main point, Tong's focus on the level of significance rather than the amount of information points to coordination, not balance.