When Do I Use Into or In To?
Got an editing question? Author Katie O’Sullivan has an answer!
If you have a question for Katie you can email her at katie.osullivan@yahoo.com
One of our CWO readers writes:
How does one know when to use into or in to?
This really boils down to parts of speech – not the sexiest of subjects when taught in middle school, when your thoughts were more likely on that cute kid sitting two rows over from you.
But prepositions and adverbs have their time and place, and this is one of those times.
“Into” is a preposition, and indicates movement toward the inside of somewhere or something. Example: The kids jumped into the pool with a splash.
In to is the adverb in followed by the preposition to. An adverb modifies a verb.
The preposition is the start of a separate clause. The difference seems subtle, but read the following example, and think how they would be changed if “in to” were replaced by “into.”
Example: Sam turned his paper in to the teacher. He turned his paper in. That’s a complete thought right there, even without the prepositional phrase. For Sam to turn his paper “into” the teacher, he’d have to be a wizard.
He could turn it into origami or a crumpled ball, but not a teacher.
CWO Mail Bag
Katie O’Sullivan lives on Cape Cod, drinking way too much coffee and inventing new excuses not to dust.
Living next to the Atlantic influences everything she writes, from her YA series about mermaids to her contemporary romances for The Wild Rose Press.
A recovering English major, she earned her degree at Colgate University and now writes romance and adventure for young adults, and something steamier for the young at heart.
