'In order to' - meaning, use and abuse

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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.

[micheleperlstein]

Good tip. This is something I learned way back when I was in law school. My legal writing professor was a big proponent of ditching the phrase "in order to" for just using the word "to".

[thSANCTUARY]

I can see a distinction between "We need to hire a developer in order to complete the project, " and "We need to hire a developer to complete the project." In the first case, "We" are completing the project, and need a developer to help that effort. In the second case, the developer alone is completing the project.
Maybe I'm stretching a bit on this, but that's what the "in order to" signals to me in this example.

[TheRussRave]

OK, .. in order to keep up with progressive conversational writing I'll make a concerted effort to watch out for this one! Thanks Clare ;-)

[azeempatel]

Thank you Clare, your ideas are an innovative way of communication.

[alonsoquijano]

Hi Dr Lynch. How about academic writing? Should we also ditch "in order to"?

[cj]

“In order to” HufflePuff-up my learning experience from the grammar wizard Dr. Clare, I listen to her beautiful voice and pretend I’m the only American student at Hogwarts. Your videos certainly cast a spell from across the pond.

[MuhammadIrfan-sbuv]

Watching this video before 3 hour exam😁 and after three years upload

[kavitasrinivasan]

Thanks Dr Clare. Why and where is it fine to use the phrase?