# Grammar: into vs. in to **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 18, 2009, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-into-vs-in-to/506896 "2009-08-18T23:29:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fantome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Fantome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fantome)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-into-vs-in-to/506896/1 "2009-08-18T23:29:15Z")
_Are you going to check this out? Yes, I will look into/in to this._ Which is correct? ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-into-vs-in-to/506896/2 "2009-08-18T23:35:37Z")
Into. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2009, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-into-vs-in-to/506896/3 "2009-08-19T01:35:38Z")
“Into” is much more common. Probably the only cases where “in to” would be correct are when “in” is the particle of a verb: “He looked in to see what was in the house.” “She stayed in to be sure she’d be home when he visited.” ---
**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2009, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-into-vs-in-to/506896/4 "2009-08-19T02:31:08Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > “Into” is much more common. Probably the only cases where “in to” would be correct are when “in” is the particle of a verb: > > “He looked in to see what was in the house.” > “She stayed in to be sure she’d be home when he visited.” That’s pretty much it. A simple test: when you say it out loud, are in and to two separate sounds? Would it sound right to put a pause between them? Most people who have grown up speaking a language have an ear for what sounds right… they just need to put in in writing the right way. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2009, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-into-vs-in-to/506896/5 "2009-08-19T03:37:35Z")
Other than “in” preceding infinitives, the only times I would see “in to” as a two-word construction (rather than using into) is in idiomatic forms including “in” like “to lead in” or “to stand in” – and even there “into” is sometimes preferable. “Into” implies motion. If the “in” implies fixed location and the “to” motion to an idiomatic or particle use, keep them separate; otherwise usually prefer “into” over the separated form. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2009, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-into-vs-in-to/506896/6 "2009-08-19T11:02:26Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > Other than “in” preceding infinitives, the only times I would see “in to” as a two-word construction (rather than using into) is in idiomatic forms including “in” like “to lead in” or “to stand in” – and even there “into” is sometimes preferable. > > “Into” implies motion. If the “in” implies fixed location and the “to” motion to an idiomatic or particle use, keep them separate; otherwise usually prefer “into” over the separated form. I came across a good example of this in an article I was editing the other day. The author had written “the plane was coming into land”. I hope that the plane was actually coming in to land; the alternative sounds rather terminal. ---
**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2009, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-into-vs-in-to/506896/7 "2009-08-19T13:03:47Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > I came across a good example of this in an article I was editing the other day. The author had written “the plane was coming into land”. I hope that the plane was actually coming in to land; the alternative sounds rather terminal. I like that pun… terminal, as in final, as opposed to terminal, as in where an airplane “parks”… it’s too early for me to make a punny remark to your pun, so I’ll just come out and say I like it… ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2009, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-into-vs-in-to/506896/8 "2009-08-19T13:11:58Z")
The one I dislike is “onto”, even though it is in dictionaries. It just feels incorrect, somehow. I see that it is much more recent than “into”. To me it’s almost as bad as “alot”, “nevermind” or “everyday” (when the adverbial phrase “every day” is intended).