“In to” vs. “into” – this is one of the troublesome word pairs that I need to write about just so it is solidified in my own mind. I tend to use “into” in every situation, and I know that isn’t right! So, what’s the difference between the two?
Since you all know that I believe in going back to grammar to find the answers, we need to find out what parts of speech we’re dealing with.
“Into” is a preposition. And because prepositions require objects, a noun will typically follow “into.” The general meaning of “into” as a preposition is “from the outside to the inside.” So, in the broadest sense, when we use “into” we are saying that we went from the outside of something to the inside of something. It is a word that indicates direction or movement.
Example: Mary Ellen ran into the grocery store to get milk.
In the above example, we could substitute our general meaning – Mary Ellen ran from the outside to the inside of the grocery store to get milk. There is the idea that she is moving or going in a certain direction.
“In to” is a little more complicated with it’s part of speech. “In” is an adverb indicating where; however, “to” can have two different functions. “To” can be either a preposition or an infinitive. If “to” is a preposition, a noun will follow. If it is an infinitive, an action verb will follow.
Example: Dad decided that we would stop in to visit Aunt Helen.
In the example, we are not moving or going anywhere – no direction. We are simply making a stop. Plus we have a verb immediately after “to” which tells us that we need to use “in to” with “to” functioning as the infinitive.
Example: When we arrived, Aunt Helen invited us in to dinner.
In this example, “in” is telling us where Aunt Helen invited us. “To dinner” tells us what she invited us to.
Complicated, huh? Someday with practice I’ll start naturally using the correct form in my writing, but until then, I’ll be referring back to this post!
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