I was going to rant about the overuse of “in order to…” This phrase is always two words too long. No arguments accepted. Then I came across a passage from Isaac Babel’s "Guy de Maupassant" that soothed my nerves. Sometimes new insight is more powerful that old grudges:

I go over each sentence, time and again. I start by cutting all the words it can do without. You have to keep your eye on the job because words are very sly, the rubbishy ones go into hiding and you have to dig them out… (Quote pulled from Debra Sparks's Curious Attractions: Essays on Fiction Writing)

So, let me make things simple: “in order” is rubbish in the phrase "in order to." Done. Architects love it though. And too many other professionals. Rubbish.

I can’t help but share the next bit of Sparks’s excerpt:

Oh, I forgot—before I take out the rubbish, I break up the text into short sentences. The more full stops the better. I’d like to have that passed as law. No more than one idea or image to one sentence… I take out the participles and adverbs… Only a genius can afford two adjectives to a noun.

Geniuses indeed. Based on those words, I know a lot of geniuses.