If the three verbs were parallel, you could substitute them for each other without adding anything to the sentence, and grammatically it should still work.

The audience [...] listened raptly - OK
The audience [...] applauding often - Doesn't work the same way
The audience [...] standing to clap - Also doesn't work the same way

While i'm not saying that these phrases cannot all be in the same sentence, I wouldn't say that they're parallel. Parallelism would be "listened", "applauded", and "stood".

dimochka wrote:If the three verbs were parallel, you could substitute them for each other without adding anything to the sentence, and grammatically it should still work.

The audience [...] listened raptly - OK
The audience [...] applauding often - Doesn't work the same way
The audience [...] standing to clap - Also doesn't work the same way

While i'm not saying that these phrases cannot all be in the same sentence, I wouldn't say that they're parallel. Parallelism would be "listened", "applauded", and "stood".

The audience in Oslo's City Hall listened raptly, applauding often, standing to clap when Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi entered the hall.

If we shorten the sentence to above.
then "applauding often" would be a modifier to "listened raptly"
AND "standing to clap" a modifier for "applauding often".
Please confirm if I am thinking correct now...I understand now that these are not parallel. Thanks for explaining that.