INTO OR IN TO

The one-word form, into, is a preposition.

Into has several meanings, mainly relating to movement, action, or change:

describing movement or action that results in someone or something becoming enclosed, surrounded
by, or being in contact with something else: Martin put the wine into the fridge; Pat crashed into
another car.

towards the direction of something: the main road leads into the city centre.

expressing a change of state: the peaceful demo turned into a violent conrontation.

showing the result of an action: the minister was forced into a public apology.

about or relating to something: an investigation into the incident is under way.

used when dividing numbers: two goes into six three times.

used informally to mean actively interested in something: she’s into running

As for in and to, they’re words with many meanings and they can perform several different roles in a
sentence (they’re both adverbs and prepositions; in is an adjective and a noun as well). You can also use
to with the base form (infinitive) of a verb (she had to leave him).

Here are some examples:

Mum called us in to supper (adverb in, preposition to)

He caved in to their demands (phrasal verb cave in, preposition to)

The whole family pitched in to clean the house (phrasal verb pitch in, infinitive to clean)

I came in to have a cup of coffee (adverb in, infinitive to have)’

Some of the examples above use the term ‘phrasal verb’. This type of verb is one that’s made up of a
verb plus an adverb or a preposition, or both. A phrasal verb typically has a meaning that isn’t obvious
from the individual parts. For instance: she was brought up by her aunt; my car broke down; he put me
down for a trip to Paris.
Examples:

✔Ministers stepped in to resolve the crisis.

(in is part of the phrasal verb step in; to resolve is an infinitive verb form)

✔ I just dropped in to see how you were.

(in is part of the phrasal verb drop in; to see is an infinitive verb form)

✔ He listened in to our phone call.

(in is part of the phrasal verb listen in; to is a preposition that belongs with the noun phrase our phone
call)

Does into appear in conjunction with a verb (or phrasal verb) of movement, action, or change, and is it
functioning as a preposition that’s linked in meaning to a noun or pronoun?

If yes, always write into as one word:

✔ When I first stepped into the room, I had no idea of its size.

(step is a simple verb of movement; into is a preposition)

✔ Oh no! I dropped my phone into the bath!

(drop is a simple verb of action; into is a preposition)

✔ Their company ran into financial difficulties.

(run into is a phrasal verb)

✔ He didn’t go into detail about the accident.

(go into is a phrasal verb)