1. 一個句子的主語和謂語動詞應該能夠反映句子中的最重要的意思。例如：

　　The situation that resulted in my grandfather’s not being able to study engineering was that his father needed help on the farm.

　　從意思上來分析上面這句話需要表達的重要的概念是“grandfather’s not being able to study”，而在表達這個概念時原句用的主語是situation，謂語動詞是was，不能強調需要表達的重點概念，可以改為下面這句話：

　　My grandfather couldn’t study engineering because his father needed help on the farm.

　　2. 避免頻繁使用“there be”結構，例如下面的句子：

　　There were 25 cows on the farm that my grandfather had to milk every day. It was hard work for my grandfather.

　　可以改為My grandfather worked hard. He had to milk 25 cows on the farm every day.

　　更簡潔的句式為：

　　My grandfather worked hard milking 25 cows daily.

　　3. 把從句改為短語或單詞。例如：

　　Dairy cows were raised on the farm, which was located100 kilometers from the nearest university and was in an area that was remote.

　　簡介的表達方式為：

　　The dairy farm was located in a remote area, 100 kilometers to the nearest university.

　　4. 僅在需要強調賓語而不是主語的時候才使用被動語態(tài)。例如：

　　In the fall, not only did the cows have to be milked, but also the hay was mowed and stacked by my grandfather’s family.

　　本句不夠簡潔的原因是本句的重心應該是“忙碌的家庭-my grandfather’s family”，而使用了被動語態(tài)后，仿佛重心變成了cows和hay。下面的表達方式是主動語態(tài)，相對來說更簡潔一些：

　　In the fall, my grandfather’s family not only milked the cow but also mowed and stacked the hay.

　　5. 用更為精確的一個動詞來代替動詞短語，例如下面這句話：

　　My grandfather didn’t have time to stand around doing nothing with his school friends.

　　Stand around doing nothing其實可以用一個動詞來表達，即loiter：

　　My grandfather didn’t have time to loiter with his school friends.

　　6. 有時兩句話的信息經過組合完全可以用一句話來簡練地表達，例如：

　　Profits from the farm were not large. Sometimes they were too small to meet the expenses of running a farm. They were not sufficient to pay for a university degree.

　　兩句話的信息可以合并為下面這句更為簡潔的句子：

　　Profits from the farm were sometimes too small to meet operational expenses, let alone pay for a university degree.