Out of Order
The phrase in order to can be shortened to to in nearly every instance.
WORDY: “Gaines writes these tips in order to impress his friends.”
CONCISE: “Gaines writes these tips to impress his friends.”
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but doesn’t it sound smarter? I mean, I get what you’re saying, but I think that gets thrown in there in hopes that it SOUNDS like you know more… or thought about it longer or something. Is it wrong? 🙂 Also, aren’t smiley faces part of proper grammar?
Great comment, Beth. This brings up an important topic that the blog will return to: if a writer is trying to sound smarter by inserting flabby language into his text, that automatically undercuts what he’s trying to do. Good writing is about efficiently communicating your point; it isn’t about impressing your reader with unnecessary verbiage.
And, please, don’t get me started on emoticons.