As she put the chicken nuggets in the ...

You put things in the pan, not on it.

Otherwise nice construction.

Thanks, deadrat.

Sometimes we don't even 'put' certain things in the pan -- we run our hand on the plate and the contents gently fall in the pan. What'd we call this?

Drop?

She dropped the fries in the pan?

Tom

Not me. When I cook, what I don't put in the pan, I drop on the floor.

As she put the chicken nuggets on the griddle, the hot liquid splashed madly and dozens of tiny oil drops landed on her white skirt, leaving permanent spots. She was furious.

Thanks, AStars and deadrat.

I have two questions to ask:

What's the difference between?

landed on her white skirt and landed onto her white skirt? Is the latter incorrect? Or odd?

Sometimes we run our hands on the plate/tray gently and the

Both "on" and "onto" work here naturally. That's not always the case. For boarding a boat, I'd say "She stepped onto the boat" but not "She stepped on the boat." That's probably because "step on" can have a sense of harm: "She stepped on his toes."

It's always "She stepped on the gas." for sped away in a car. It's never "She stepped onto the gas."

Perhaps someone more savvy