Today and next week, we’re celebrating words and expressions that are essentially useless and should be removed from our speech and our writing. This week, we’ll look at those that are high-falutin’ and therefore appear more erudite. Next week we’ll look at those that seem to add a sense of intensity that is both unnecessary and overdone.

First, the “makes me sound smart” expressions:

In order to

This is perhaps that most unnecessary set of words used in written English. (I speak as the reader of hundreds of college essays every year.) Just say to instead and your communication will be clearer and more robust. Try it, even though it might feel more direct and less fancy. In today’s worlds of communication, we don’t need more fancy.

Utilize

This is perhaps the second most unfortunate word choice in college essays. Just say use for the same reasons listed in the above paragraph. If there is a technical field where the two words are used differently, ignore this advice for communication in that field. For the rest of us and for most normal discourse, drop the longer word, substitute the shorter word, and enjoy the reprieve from striving to sound more intelligent.