Parallelism?

It reads better to me if you do have the second "to", but more pertinently, you need to say "nor" instead of "or".

caw

One more option -

He daren't move, neither to wipe the beads of sweat at his hairline nor to dry his clammy palms on his jeans.

I like "He didn’t dare move, neither to wipe the beads of sweat at his hairline nor to dry his clammy palms on his jeans."

I think both "or/nor" can be used with "not" depending on the sentence and how you want it to sound. To me, "nor" gives it more emphasis.

evangaline said:

I have a question about this sentence: He didn’t dare move, not to wipe the beads of sweat at his hairline or to dry his clammy palms on his jeans.
Do I need the second 'to' (or to dry his clammy palms) to maintain parallel structure?
Thanks, everyone!

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"He dared not move" sounds better, at least to my ear. Not sure I agree about "or" becoming "nor." If you'd written "neither to...", then yes. But otherwise, maybe not.

Anyway, that doesn't answer your question. Yes, IMO, you need to retain "to" to give that satisfying sound of parallelism.

evangaline said:

He didn’t dare move, not to wipe the beads of sweat at his hairline or to dry his clammy palms on his jeans.

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Different suggestion that emphazises the parallelism a bit more,

He didn't dare move, not to wipe the beads of sweat at his hairline, not to dry his clammy palms on his jeans.

Eliminates the or/nor question as a bonus

Here's another option:

He didn’t dare move, either to wipe the beads of sweat at his hairline or to dry his clammy palms on his jeans.

And I would leave the second 'to.'

The structure is parallel whether or not you have that second "to".

He didn’t dare move, not:
- to wipe the beads of sweat at his hairline or
- to dry his clammy palms on his jeans.

He didn’t dare move, not to:
- wipe the beads of sweat at his hairline or
- dry his clammy palms on his jeans.

I prefer the second option, but I seem to be in a minority.

My inclination is to retain the second "to" not so much out of parallelism but because the infinitive form of the verb fits there. That said, readers sometimes say my obedience to rules makes my writing too dry.

Bufty said:

One more option -

He daren't move, neither to wipe the beads of sweat at his hairline nor to dry his clammy palms on his jeans.

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I like this A LOT better.