First… why get rid of them? Better to use a descriptive verb than a nondescript verb.
Second… how? The following examples cover the most common misuses (with examples to correct the faults).
Look for repetitious elements such as repeated nouns and pronouns.
Example: The goodwives of the town are jealous of Hester. They would often say rude things about Hester.
Notice the repetition of “goodwives” in “they” and of course Hester twice. This, coupled with the linking verb “are,” signals an opportunity to combine.
Jealous of Hester, the goodwives would say rude things to her.
That’s better, but we can be more exact. Why are they jealous? What kind of rude things?
Jealous of Hester’s sewing skill, the goodwives criticized her colorful garments.
OR Jealous of Hester’s beauty, the goodwives urged the town to brand her forehead.
Notice by combining sentences, you write more concisely (our goal).
1. The townspeople in the Scarlet Letter are alienating Hester Prynne.
The townspeople in the Scarlet Letter alienate Hester Prynne.
A form of the verb “to be” plus an –ing form of the verb forms the progressive tense. Since you should strive to write in the present tense, you can remove the “to be” verb and the –ing portion of the main verb.
Pearl was playing in the sand. Pearl plays in the sand (or “played” in the past).
Pearl is following Hester to the scaffold. Pearl follows Hester to the scaffold.
Hester is wearing the scarlet letter. Hester wears the scarlet letter.
2. Hester is being humiliated by the townspeople.
The townspeople humiliate Hester.
Notice the form “is,” “was,” or “were” followed by a past participial form of a verb (usually –ed, -en, -t). This signifies a passive sentence. Reduce the verb to its participle alone. Then find the subject at the end of the sentence in a prepositional phrase. Then make that the subject (and the old subject, the direct object).
He was given the money by Fred. Fred gave him the money.
The money was raised by our students. Our students raised the money.
Time is often spent unwisely by the young. The young spend time unwisely.
3. The goodwives of the town are jealous of Hester. They would often say rude things to her.
Jealous of Hester, the goodwives of the town often say rude things to her.
“Jealous” is a predicate adjective describing the goodwives. Make “jealous” an adjective phrase in the initial position. Notice that “goodwives” follows the phrase since it’s being described. You can always revise this type. Just get rid of the linking verb and combine the remaining elements with the surrounding sentences.
Sarah was in a frightening airplane accident. She is happy that she is safe.
Relieved, Sarah survived the frightening airplane accident.
4. The Puritans are people who live by the Bible.
The Puritans live by the Bible.
The predicate nominative “people” merely renames “Puritans.” You can usually omit the repetition.
•Hester is a sinner and needs to escape. As a sinner, Hester needs to escape. OR Hester, a sinner, needs to escape.
•Chillingworth was a doctor, so he was welcomed by the town.
The town welcomed Chillingworth, a doctor. OR The town welcomed Doctor Chillingworth.
Look at the following example. (see the rest in Part Two)
Jack was pleased by the cheers of the boys. Power was felt in his veins. Ralph was trying to regain the boys’ attention, but he was unable to do it.
Notice that the first three was’s have a verb form beside them. The fourth doesn’t. As a rule, remove the verb was and look to the verb around it. Usually, you can convert that verb into another form and rearrange the sentence making it stronger.
Jack was pleased by the cheers of the boys. The cheers of the boys pleased Jack.
By removing the was, we made the sentence more powerful (and Active).
Power was felt in his veins. His veins felt power. That doesn’t sound good.
How about Power surged through his veins. That’s better.
Ralph was trying to regain the boys, attention… Ralph tried to regain the boys’ attention…
but he was unable to do it. Unable to do it means failed. So let’s combine them…
Ralph tried to regain the boys’ attention but failed. Or Ralph failed to regain the boys’ attention.
So let’s put it all together…
The cheers of the boys pleased Jack. Power surged through his veins. Ralph failed to regain the boys’ attention.
That’s OK, but how about this…
Pleased by the boys’ cheers, Jack felt power surging through his veins. Ralph tried to regain the boys’ attention but failed.