Day 299: Avoid the “washboard” effect.

Imagine running your fingers down a washboard, the type with the ridged surface that people once used to wash clothes. Your fingers are going to go bump-bump-bump-bump-bump.

Now imagine you are reading a series of sentences that all start with the subject as the first word. Your brain will quickly realize the pattern of subject-content-subject-content-subject-content. And so on. Each subject makes a mental “bump.”

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This is called the washboard effect because it provokes the mental equivalent of running your fingers down a washboard.

The effect on the reader is significant and negative. After a few such sentences, the reader will tire of reading and lose focus. Additionally, you will seem like a boring and amateurish writer. Consider this paragraph.

“The automobile industry suffers from heavy labor demands. Labor demands have grown over the years. They now include extended time off with pay and greatly increased pension plans. The cost of supporting these labor demands is high. Manufacturers have had to reduce their profit margins to meet them. Lower profit margins cause slower or no growth. Automotive laborers are the ones who will suffer most. Fewer jobs will be available for new hires. Some current laborers will be retired or laid off. Manufacturers will find robotic technologies to reduce the need for expensive workers.”

In each sentence, the first words are the subject. Although the sentences are clear and the paragraph is well organized, they quickly become tedious to read due to the washboard effect.

To solve this bump-bump-bump pattern, we can vary the sentence openings. For example, we can start some sentences with adverbial or prepositional phrases. Others we can start with single transitional words, such as therefore and however. We can even re-arrange some sentences to push the subject farther back.

Here are some sentences that have been revised to break up the washboard pattern.

“Over the years, these labor demands have grown.”

“In spite of their good intentions, these demands will hurt automotive laborers most.”

“To reduce the need for expensive laborers, manufacturers may find robotic technologies to replace them.”

Consider your own sentences and look at the patterns they create, if any. If you find yourself using the same pattern consistently, revise to provide more variety.