How are parallel sentences made and used? Parallelism played an important role in Vietnamese classical literary style. It marks every literary genre from prose to poetry, including phu, a kind of rhymed prose. It entirely governs a particular genre, called "cau doi" or parallel sentences. A pair of parallel sentences comprises two parts, the words of which must stand opposite to one another in the six tones of the Vietnamese language as well as in meaning. In Vietnam in the old days, parallel sentences were composed during meetings between literati, in salons, on the occasion of festival, weddings, and even funerals. According to the circumstances, their contents might be solemn, laudatory, or mocking. On New Years Day, every home liked to have a pair of parallel sentences composed and written by a scholar on red paper and hung in the place of honor, usually on both sides of the entrance door or of the ancestors altar.

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