infinitive clause behind passive voice

Question

Are the following examples, infinitive clause following passive voice, be understood to be in order to? If not, what do they mean?

The machine was needed to speed the process.

The machine was needed in order to seed the process?

The information required to make a decision is not provided yet.

The information required in order to make a decision is not provided yet?

He was asked to resolve the dispute.

He was asked in order to resolve the dispute?

He was believed to use our sympathy to reach his goal.

He was believed in order to use our sympathy to reach his goal?

Changing to to in order to helps me understand sentences better, so I am wondering if that works in most cases.

Answer 1

Only your first two sentences work when rephrased as you suggest. Your third and fourth do not.

He was asked to resolve the dispute.

This means nothing more nor less than what it says. It doesn't say why he was asked to resolve the dispute, simply that he was. There is no explicitly stated purpose behind the action.

In one scenario, it's possible that the people asking him to resolve the dispute know that he'll never be able to do so. Perhaps they know that the two sides in the conflict will actually kill him instead.

Assuming that to be the case, then you could say:

He was asked to resolve the dispute in order to arrange his death.

But since we don't know the reason behind the request, we can't use an in order to phrase of any kind.

However, the following statement could make use of an in order to rephrasing:

He was asked to resolve the dispute to settle the score.
→ He was asked to resolve the dispute in order to settle the score.

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He was believed to use our sympathy to reach his goal.

Your rephrasing of this sentence replaces the wrong to. You have to ask yourself what the purpose of something is:

✘ He was believed in order to use our sympathy to reach his goal.
✔ He was believed to use our sympathy in order to reach his goal.