Locate a wordy compound preposition such as "with regard to," "with respect to," "in connection with," "for the purposes of," "from the point of view of," "the manner in which" or "at a later date."
Replace the wordy compound prepositions with single words. For example, substitute "then" for "at that point in time," "from" for "from the point of view of," "for" for "for the purpose of," "although" for "despite the fact that" and "how" for "the manner in which."
Change wordy compound prepositions into participles, verbs that end in "ing." Instead of writing "in the fear of failure," write "fearing failure," or "attempting" instead of "in the attempt to."
Substitute adverbs for prepositional phrases. Rather than writing "The writer's novels were of critical acclaim," state "The writer's novels were critically acclaimed."
Convert passive sentences to the active voice. Sometimes passive sentences create wordy compound prepositions, such as in the sentence "The grounds were observed by means of hidden cameras," where the subject of the sentence is located at the end and preceded by the prepositional compound "by means of." Rewriting the sentence in active voice eliminates the wordy prepositional phrase: "Hidden cameras observed the grounds."