"In order to" - meaning, use and abuse

Join the Doris and Bertie Writing School at https://training.dorisandbertie.com/ - and get unlimited access to hundreds of exclusive videos, templates and cheat sheets - with the following courses:

Writing with Confidence: Writing Beginner to Writing Pro
Email Etiquette: Write More Effective Emails at Work
Complete Punctuation: Novice to Pro
Proofread Like a Pro
Report Writing Made Simple
Business Writing for Busy People
Freelance Copywriting: How to Succeed as an Elite Copywriter
Remote Working: How to Succeed In The New Workplace
Sentence Surgery: How to Polish to Perfection

Get your free copy of my ebook 200 Writing Tips when you subscribe to my newsletter: https://www.dorisandbertie.com/newsletter

…………………………………………………………………………………..

Here’s a really quick tip to make your writing more succinct: ditch the phrase ‘in order to’. As in:
We need to hire a developer in order to complete the project.

Or

In order to receive payment promptly, please submit your invoice by the end of the week.

Here, as is usual with this phrase,’in order to’ expresses the purpose of something.

But only one word in this three-word phrase is actually necessary: to.


‘In order to’ isn’t more precise. It doesn’t provide any extra meaning - just extra wordage for your reader to trawl through to get to the important words in the sentence.

Neither is ‘in order to’ more professional-sounding than ‘to’. The Cambridge Dictionary notes that the phrase ‘in order to’ is more common in writing than speaking, but as any professional writer will tell you, the best business writing is conversational.
So write like you speak and ditch ‘in order to’ for ‘to’.

I’m Dr Clare Lynch. Subscribe to the channel for more quick writing tips.