Well, it depends, doesn’t it?
Even if you’ve never thought about it before, it’s perhaps not too surprising that the word into is a combination of the words in and to. If you think about any sentence in which you might use the word, it clearly combines the meaning of both:
He walked into the room.
To is there because there’s movement, and to usually comes after verbs of movement. In is there because he ends up in the room. Easy. But, does this mean we can always replace in to with into?
Passing through some of the suburbs of Dublin on Hallowe’en Night, I was heartened to see a few bonfires burning.
Have you ever wondered why some words like write and wrong begin with a silent W?
Of course you haven’t, but luckily for you, I have.
Or if you prefer, The Day of the Dead. Which is today, because confusingly, yesterday was All Saints’ Day (AKA All Hallows’ Day). Both days are quite different though.
Another couple of weeks, another European leader whose name we need to figure out how to pronounce.
Yes, it’s Hallowe’en again! Time to have a look at an appropriately spooky word. But first, a challenge:
English-Language Thoughts 