should we even go in to this

September 19, 2016 5:37 PM

Should "in" + "to" + [noun] always resolve to an "into"?

This question was spurred by google docs' spellcheck getting angry at there being a space in "in" + "to" + [noun].

To my intuition, when "in" is part of an idiomatic verb phrase, it shouldn't combine with "to"; to wit:

I can't help but give in to chocolate.
We should make sure this idea ties in to our overall plan.

But the spellcheck prefers:

I can't help but give into chocolate.
We should make sure this idea ties into our overall plan.

I want to note that the same spellcheck knows that the space should not disappear when there's a verb following, as in:

We must give in to better our chances of receiving mercy.
She will make sure the plot of this episode ties in to drive home the importance of Bob The Dinosaur's character development.

So this isn't just a case of a dumb spellcheck that's set to always turn "in" + "to" to "into".

posted by zokni to Writing & Language (18 answers total)

I dropped in to check on something in this thread and then forgot why.

That's an example where "into" wouldn't make any sense.
posted by I-baLL at 5:45 PM on September 19, 2016 [13 favorites]

You are right (where "right," in this case, means both "what a usage guide would say" and "in accordance with most native speakers' habitual practice.") Your spellcheck is wrong.
posted by escabeche at 5:45 PM on September 19, 2016 [9 favorites]

I agree with you, but what spellcheck is doing on the second pair of sentences is grouping "to better" and "to drive". In your original examples, spellcheck doesn't know that "give in" and "ties in" are verb phrases, but it does know the infinitive "to [verb]" construction as an "in"+"to" counterexample.
posted by supercres at 5:46 PM on September 19, 2016 [1 favorite]

More precisely: "give in" and "tie in" are verbs that just happen to look superficially like verbs followed by a preposition.
posted by escabeche at 5:47 PM on September 19, 2016 [3 favorites]

I stopped by the mosque so I could go into pray.(? - no. Clearly not.)

Spellcheck understands "This is a construction that is in my internal dictionary," and "This is a construction that is NOT in my internal dictionary," and should therefore always be treated with the utmost suspicion.
posted by Emperor SnooKloze at 5:59 PM on September 19, 2016 [2 favorites]

Call me crazy, but (using your examples) I would have said, and would have felt firmly that I was making most sense in saying:

I can't help but give in to chocolate. [space between in and to]
We should make sure this idea ties into our overall plan. [no space]

I cannot tell you what "rule" I am applying in my head, but it feels right.

Bottom line is: if it feels good, do it.
posted by sheldman at 6:06 PM on September 19, 2016 [3 favorites]

Been said a hundred times already (approx.) but, yeah, I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in. You are not going mad.
posted by comealongpole at 6:22 PM on September 19, 2016

I think it's generally "into" when the "in" and "to" function together. Walk into the building. Turn into a raving loon. Peer into the future. But you can have "in" and "to" functioning with the words preceding and following. Thus, "give in to temptation" because "give in" is the act you are performing. You aren't giving something inside a place called temptation--a nonsensical idea which is what "give into temptation" would convey.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 6:27 PM on September 19, 2016 [2 favorites]

This example helps clarify the difference for me:

"Run in to the store" = (in my idiolect, at least) walk into the store to "run" a quick errand.

"Run into the store." = Literally, flat out running as fast as I can into a store for some reason.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 6:32 PM on September 19, 2016 [8 favorites]

Or colliding with it.

"The burglar turned himself into the police" is clearly wrong, too, barring strange circumstances that require a great deal more detail.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 6:38 PM on September 19, 2016 [22 favorites]

Dumb spellcheck. "Into" means you're merged/submerged/subsumed, in some way.
posted by unknowncommand at 6:59 PM on September 19, 2016 [1 favorite]

You are correct, and escabeche and supercres have the key insight—what your examples have in common is that the word “in” belongs to a phrasal verb.

Pater Aletheius has some good examples that are correct both ways, but with different meanings.
posted by musicinmybrain at 7:07 PM on September 19, 2016 [2 favorites]

I was going to chime in with "phrasal verbs" too, but musicinmybrain beat me to it.
posted by Peach at 7:28 PM on September 19, 2016

Verb infinitives. Ignore and move on.
posted by intermod at 8:10 PM on September 19, 2016

I actually don't think phrasal verbs are the key here. "Log in" is a phrasal verb, but "log into the computer" isn't wrong. Sheldman and Pater Aletheias seem to me to be getting closest.

Spellcheck is definitely wrong, though. The only way you can "give into chocolate" is if you're literally collapsing into a vat of the stuff.
posted by aws17576 at 11:18 PM on September 19, 2016

Here's a fun example to toy with. If you choose a car for your commute, would you say you're driving in to the city or driving into the city? Driving in to the office or driving into the office?

My gut says "into the city" and "in to the office", since my car is ending up inside the city but not (presumably) inside the office. But I'm not sure there's a rule of grammar, per se, to back this up.
posted by aws17576 at 11:20 PM on September 19, 2016 [1 favorite]

I think it is mostly about the definition of "into" which is about crossing the threshold from outside something to inside something. Which is why you don't say you're driving into the office, unless you actually drive the car inside the building and park it in your office. Log into is an abstract version of threshold crossing.

On googling, there are other meanings of "into", e.g. driving into a post, but I think the theory still holds.
posted by kjs4 at 6:54 AM on September 20, 2016

I have now spent way too much time thinking about this. Thanks! :P

As one googled source said, "lead us not into temptation" is good, but "i gave in to temptation" is also good. The difference does seem to be that "lead" is a verb with space-related, entry-related, or movement-related meaning, whereas "give" (in this context) is not.
posted by sheldman at 7:09 AM on September 20, 2016