To structure the HTML elements for a 3-column layout, you can use a combination of container elements and individual column elements. Here's an example:
<div class="container">
  <div class="column">
    <!-- Content for column 1 -->
  </div>
  <div class="column">
    <!-- Content for column 2 -->
  </div>
  <div class="column">
    <!-- Content for column 3 -->
  </div>
</div>
 
In this example, the container <div> with the class "container" holds three separate <div> elements with the class "column". Each column represents a specific section or content within the 3-column layout.