so as to
‘so as to’ is a three-sets-of-two-letters-cute phrase carrying two redundant words. “in order to” is less letter-construction-cute while containing two redundant words.
examples:
- kate went barefoot in order to hide the possibility that her socks have escaped.
- Microsoft is committed to…. (blah-de-blah) …so as to make it easy to install non-Microsoft products (Microsoft press release).
In both examples only the word ‘to’ does any real work. Or am I missing some subtle spin these words add to a message? Maybe it makes the person who uses them sound clever. What do you think?
So as to sound clever I will be using more words than usual and throwing in some new words for good measure. In order to avoid getting poked in the eye today I will not be walking within forking distance of Turdface.
July 21st, 2006
It’s not totally useless. It adds emphasis and occasionally resolves ambiguity. “We skipped dinner to go immediately.” Adding “so as/in order” makes this sentence much easier to parse.
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July 22nd, 2006
its not a good idea to skip dinner. I wouldn’t recommend it. I would recommend ditching the sox so as to enjoy dinner with naked feet.
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