避免空洞的单词和词组

　　1.一些空洞的单词或词组根本不能为句子带来任何相关的或重要的信息，完全可以删掉。

　　比如：Whenall things are considered, young adults of today live more satisfying livesthan those of their parents, in my opinion。

　　这句话当中的“whenall things are considered”和“in my opinion“都显得多余。完全可以去掉。改为：

　　Youngadults of today live more satisfying lives than their parents。

　　2.有些空洞和繁琐的表达方式可以进行替换。

　　例如：Dueto the fact that our grandparents were under an obligation to help theirparents, they did not have the options that young people have at this point intime。

　　“dueto the fact that”就是一个很典型的繁琐的表达方式的例子，可以替换，简化为下面的表达方式：

　　Becauseour grandparents were obligated to help their parents, they did not have theoptions that young people have now。

　　避免重复

　　1.尽量避免重复使用同样的词汇。或者有的时候虽然词汇没有重复，但意思却有重复。这时候可以做一些简化的工作。

　　例如下面这个例子：Thefarm my grandfather grew up on was large in size。

　　large对一个farm来说就是size方面的large，所以insize可以去掉，改为：Thefarm my grandfather grew up on was large。

　　更简洁的表达方式为：Mygrandfather grew up on a large farm。

　　2.有时一个词组可以用一个更简单的单词来替换

　　例如：Mygrandfather has said over and over again that he had to work on his parents'farm。

　　这里的overand over again就可以改为repeatedly，显得更为简洁：Mygrandfather has said repeatedly that he had to work on his parents' farm。

　　选择最恰当的语法结构

　　选择合适的语法结构可以使句子意思的表达更为精确和简练。虽然语法的多样性也很重要，但选择最恰当的语法结构仍然是更为重要的考虑因素。以下原则是在考虑选择何种语法结构时可以参考的原则：

　　1.一个句子的主语和谓语动词应该能够反映句子中的最重要的意思。

　　例如：Thesituation that resulted in my grandfather's not being able to study engineeringwas that his father needed help on the farm。

　　从意思上来分析，上面这句话需要表达的重要的概念是“grandfather'snot being able to study”，而在表达这个概念时，原句用的主语是situation，谓语动词是was，不能强调需要表达的重点概念，可以改为下面这句话：

　　Mygrandfather couldn't study engineering because his father needed help on thefarm。

　　2.避免频繁使用“there be”结构

　　例如下面的句子：Therewere 25 cows on the farm that my grandfather had to milk every day. It was hardwork for my grandfather。

　　可以改为：

　　Mygrandfather worked hard. He had to milk 25 cows on the farm every day。

　　更简洁的句式为：

　　Mygrandfather worked hard milking 25 cows daily。

　　3.把从句改为短语或单词。

　　例如：Dairycows were raised on the farm, which was located100 kilometers from the nearestuniversity and was in an area that was remote。

　　简介的表达方式为：

　　Thedairy farm was located in a remote area, 100 kilometers to the nearestuniversity。

　　4.仅在需要强调宾语而不是主语的时候，才使用被动语态。

　　例如：Inthe fall, not only did the cows have to be milked, but also the hay was mowedand stacked by my grandfather's family。

　　本句不够简洁的原因是本句的重心应该是“忙碌的家庭-mygrandfather's family”，而使用了被动语态後，彷佛重心变成了cows和hay。下面的表达方式是主动语态，相对来说更简洁一些：

　　Inthe fall, my grandfather's family not only milked the cow but also mowed andstacked the hay。

　　5.用更为精确的一个动词来代替动词短语。

　　例如：Mygrandfather didn't have time to stand around doing nothing with his schoolfriends。

　　Standaround doing nothing其实可以用一个动词来表达，即loiter：

　　Mygrandfather didn't have time to loiter with his school friends。

　　6.有时两句话的信息经过组合完全可以用一句话来简练地表达。

　　例如：Profitsfrom the farm were not large. Sometimes they were too small to meet theexpenses of running a farm. They were not sufficient to pay for a universitydegree。

　　两句话的信息可以合并为下面这句更为简洁的句子：

　　Profitsfrom the farm were sometimes too small to meet operational expenses, let alonepay for a university degree。