そのため（に）

About

そのために is a formal conjunction, that has two main usages: ① to express the result of a previously stated action/event/circumstance, and ② to mark the action one is taking to achieve an aforementioned goal.

①
E.g. 昨日きのうから大雪おおゆきです。そのため、学校がっこうが休やすみになりました。 "It has been snowing heavily since yesterday. Due to that, school has been canceled."

②
E.g. 来月らいげつマラソン大会たいかいにでます。そのため、先月せんげつから毎日まいにち走はしっています。 "(I) will be (running) in a marathon next month. For that purpose, I've been running every day since last month."

Usage ① has many possible translations, but generally expresses something like "Due to that..." in English.

Usage ② can appear as "In order to do that", "To achieve that", "Because of that", in English.

に is often dropped from そのために. Its addition places slightly more emphasis on what follows it.

Summary

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  そのために is a formal conjunction

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  そのために has two main usages: ① to express the result of a previously stated action/event/circumstance, and ② to mark the action one is taking to achieve an aforementioned goal