Ways to Talk about Aim or Purpose in English

Ways to Talk about Aim or Purpose in English (B1–C1 Guide)

Ways to Talk about Aim or Purpose

Hello, dear English learners! Today we are exploring a very practical topic: how to talk about aim or purpose in English. Whether you are writing an essay for the B2 First or C1 Advanced exam, drafting an email at work, or simply trying to express your plans clearly, this lesson will be a real help.

We will look at common words and expressions connected to aims and intentions, along with natural examples to show how they are used in everyday communication.

Objective

An objective is something you plan to achieve, often within a specific time frame. It is widely used in business, education and project planning.

• Our main objective is to finish the building by the end of the year.
• The objective of today’s meeting is to decide on the marketing strategy for the winter campaign.

Goal

A goal is something you aim to achieve — it can be short-term or long-term.

• Her long-term goal is to become a psychologist.
• The company’s short-term goal is to reduce costs while improving customer support.

Target

A target is a specific aim, often connected to numbers, amounts or deadlines.

• We hope to reach the target of 2,000 subscribers by next week.
• Sales are on target to hit €50,000 this quarter.
• After months of training, he finally reached his target weight.

Mission

A mission is a strong, meaningful purpose that guides someone’s actions, often used for organisations, charities or long-term projects.

• The NGO’s mission is to provide clean drinking water to rural communities.
• The committee successfully completed its mission to modernise all the classrooms.

Intention

Your intention is what you plan or mean to do.

• One of the intentions of this course is to help students build academic writing skills.
• It wasn’t my intention to upset you — I didn’t think before I spoke.

Useful Expressions to Talk about Purpose

Aim / Set out to do something

If you aim or set out to do something, you try hard to achieve it.

• This article aims to help students make better career choices.
• The company set out to create eco-friendly products at affordable prices.

Be supposed to do something

This means you are expected or intended to do something.

• The government is supposed to introduce new tax reforms next month.
• All students are supposed to attend the workshop tomorrow.

In order to / So as to

Used to explain purpose, especially in formal writing.

• She revised every day in order to pass the exam.
• They lowered prices so as to attract more customers.

For the purpose of

Very formal and useful for reports or CAE writing.

• The survey was carried out for the purpose of improving customer service.

With the aim of

A lovely alternative for essays.

• The project was launched with the aim of reducing plastic waste.

So that

Explains the reason behind an action.

• I spoke slowly so that everyone could understand me.

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