Weed your words: Remove redundancies

We are often told to write the way we speak. But sometimes when we speak, we use more words than we need. While we can get away with redundant and long-winded expressions in speech, we should be careful to avoid this fault in writing. See if you can weed out the unnecessary words in the sentences below.

1. Marisol had to write her essay all over again after her hard drive crashed.
2. The mayor and city councillors reached a general consensus of opinion on waste disposal.
3. Sidney is the fastest skater of the three Canadian skaters.
4. Use a soft measuring tape to measure around your waist.
5. Rosalie always wakes up at 2 a.m. in the morning.
6. There are nine students who signed up for the advanced workshop.
7. Manny was both extremely tired and very hungry.