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.

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

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

　　5. 用更为精确的一个动词来代替动词短语，例如下面这句话：

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

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

　　My grandfather 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：

　　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.

　　两句话的信息可以合并为下面这句更为简洁的句子：

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

　　简单并不代表没有难度，一篇好的托福作文，必须逻辑清晰、词汇和句式运用恰当。如果考生对长句没有太大的把握，那么不妨拆成更有把握的短句，一样能获得高分。