An earlier
Hint showed that to and
toward
are
generally used with
verbs showing
movement and
that to often shows the
result
of the
movement while
toward shows the
direction of the movement. In
addition, the earlier Hint
noted that to
can be used for toward,
but
toward cannot be used for
to.
The
prepositions in and
into and
on and onto
have somewhat similar "behavior."
Into and
onto are used
with verbs showing
movement. They show both the direction and the result of the
movement.
In and on may be used both
with verbs that show movement
and with
verbs that do not
show movement. With verbs showing
movement,
in and
on may
be used instead of into and
onto
(though into and
onto are
clearer). In
this case, they show both direction and
result. With
verbs that do not
show movement, in and
on show location:
in =
inside
or
within and
on = topside
or
touching
the surface
of.
Examples
Fouad dived into / in
the
lake.
Fouad says that
the water that's in
(not into) the lake is cold.
Chang-Ho threw his keys
onto
/ on the table.
Chang-Ho left his keys on
(not onto) the
table.
Nadia put the cake into
/
in the oven.
Nadia will leave the cake in
(not into) the
oven until it has finished
baking.
The cat jumped onto
/ on
the sofa.
The cat lay
on (not onto)
the sofa all
afternoon.
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