Words Mean Things: “Into” versus “In To” Edition

March 10, 2009

From a popular music blog:

intopolice.jpg

Look at me, I’m police!

images.jpegimages-1.jpeg

Now that we all see the problem and its hilarious, unintended consequence…

Here is a nice definition of “into”:

  1. from the outside to the inside of; to the midst or depths ofwalked into the house, jumped into the lake
  2. advancing or continuing to the midst of (a period of time)dancing far into the night
  3. to the form, substance, or condition of turned into a swan, divided into parts
  4. so as to strike; against to bump into a door
  5. to the work or activity of to go into teaching
  6. in the direction of heading into a storm
  7. ? INFORMAL involved in, interested in, or concerned with
  8. ARITH. considered as a divisor of 3 into 21 is 7

Now let’s try to clear this up. The “to” in “in to” can mean “in order to.” For instance, “After pausing at the door, he went in to clear up the misunderstanding.” The “to” can be thought of as belonging to “clear up” — “to clear up” is an action. But “in to” is also appropriate when the “to” is simply a preposition (although sometimes a comma will be needed to separate “in” and “to” in such a case).

“Into” is a preposition that generally shows motion from the outside to the inside. You can think of it as an answer to the question, “Where?” “Into” can also suggest a change of state. He walked into a bar. He turned into a bat.

The police are not a place, so Chris Brown can’t walk “into” them. You can walk “into” a police station, but you can’t turn yourself “into” the police. Unless, of course, you are becoming the police. That is, “police,” plural. I’m pretty sure that’s impossible, unless you are sort of like the Transformers (who transformed from plural to singular) in reverse.

“In to” consists of two separate particles. In some cases, “to” is part of an infinitive (“to see,” “to learn,” etc.); in other cases, it is a preposition. I went in to see what was going on. I went in, to the dismay of all involved.

Another way to think of it is that “in to” combines the meanings of two separate words — someone goes “in,” in order “to” do something. Sometimes the “in” is idiomatic, such as the case of “turning oneself in” to police.

A good test to determine which one you need is to pause between the “in” and “to.” If that sounds okay, that’s a good clue you want “in to.” He turned himself in … to the police. Great. She went in … to the cave. That’s a little strange — it should be “into.”

Make me a sandwich!

Poof! You’re a sandwich!

Turn yourself into the police!

Poof! I’m the police!

Posted by jen | Filed Under Jen says, grammar 

Comments

One Response to “Words Mean Things: “Into” versus “In To” Edition”

  1. Viveca on April 6th, 2009 7:01 pm

    My sister used to imitate what she pictured me doing when I said “I’m going to jump in the shower.” Now I jump into the shower instead.

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