I'm a Korean and I learned in school that 'to' is equal to 'in order to' and 'so as to,' if they are used in expressing intent.
Are the sentences "I study in order to achieve my goal" and "I study so as to achieve my goal" same, in terms of nuance? If there's even the slightest difference when viewed by a native speaker, please elaborate! 🙂
Best Answer
"so as to" and "in order to" are equivalent. "In order to" is more common:
"in order to" shows a desired situation (achieving your goal) and an action that is done to get to that state (study) - "I study in order to achieve my goal"
Generally, this can be shorted to "to": "I study to achieve my goal". (However note that "to" has many other uses.)