Eliminate semicolons. If you have any sentences with semicolons, it is likely that they can be turned into separate sentences.
Remove conjunctions. Conjunctions are words such as "and," "or," "but," "because," "so," "yet" and "as." Often, a sentence that contains a conjunction can be made into two or more sentences.
Substitute single words for phrases. For example, the phrase "due to the fact that" can be changed to "because." "At such time" can be changed to "when." "In the event that" can be changed to "if." Phrases that include the word "that" or "which" can often be shortened.
Eliminate synonyms. Sometimes writing includes two or more synonyms. For example, "He is always on time; he is very prompt." In most cases, only one is needed.
Use the simple present or past tense, where possible, rather than the past, future, or any perfect tense or "ing" forms. Simple present and past tense verbs (for example, "I eat," "I ate") are often shorter than perfect forms ("I have eaten," "I had eaten") or future tense ("I will eat") or "ing" forms (I am eating).
Shorten words by using a thesaurus and finding shorter synonyms.