He ran cold water over his bleeding fingers

Question

HelloNance went into the bathroom and ran cold water over his bleeding fingers. Q1. Is it possible to paraphrase the red part as  He ran his bleeding fingers into cold water.Q2. Are these prepositions also allowable?He ran his bleeding fingers through / under / underneath / beneath cold water.Thank you.

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

buriburiQ1. Is it possible to paraphrase the red part as He ran his bleeding fingers into cold water.

No. Not into. But under is OK. to run ( something ) under cold water.

buriburiQ2. Are these prepositions also allowable?He ran his bleeding fingers through / under / underneath / beneath cold water.

Not usually. under is fine. The others are only borderline acceptable if at all.

CJ

Buriburi · Answer

CJ, thank you so much!
Please allow me ask one more

Would you say "he ran his bleeding fingers in cold water"?

CalifJim · Answer

buriburiCJ, thank you so much!Please allow me ask one moreWould you say "he ran his bleeding fingers in cold water"?

I would not. No.

I would say He dipped his bleeding fingers in cold water, though.

CJ

Buriburi · Answer

Thank you very much!

I hope I don't put you out by asking this question, but please, I'm just curious..

(This is me saying "one more". I hope it's the index finger.)

So my question is why do you think 'into' is not acceptable in the sentence? I learned 'into' as opposed to 'in' is more dynamic so it is apt when the context, or specifically when the verb is in motion. I don't have the sense you get from the verb in question, 'to run', so I could only guess by the basic meaning of 'run', as in 'I run two miles everyday' that it is a motion verb. So basically, my reading is that "he moved his finger into cold water"

Is there a possibility that "ran something into something" figures idiomatically so the whole phrase means something different than the literal sense expected? Or it is possibly just that you guys don't say that way.

So please let me hear any of your view on this.

Thank you.

CalifJim · Answer

There are two aspects to your questions, and I'm not sure which of them is really your focus, so I'll talk about both.

1. The distinction between 'in' and 'into'.
Usually 'into' suggests motion; 'in' does not. Nevertheless, 'in' often substitutes for 'into' in the case of motion, whereas 'into' does not substitute for 'in' in the case of lack of motion.

The chocolates are in the box. (Not ... are into the box.)
I threw the chocolates into the box. (Or ... in the box.)

Thus, both of these are fine:
He dipped his hand [into / in] cold water.

2. run ... into.
The objection to this combination in your example sentence is just as you may have suspected when you suggested that "run into" has a special idiomatic meaning, and I think you can guess that meaning from the following examples.

Someone ran their car into an old man who was crossing the street, and he ended up in the hospital.
Jack wasn't looking where he was going, and he ran into a brick wall. It was very painful.

This idea of violent contact is not appropriate when speaking of water running over a finger.
___________

Still, and you may find this surprising, we also use the same idiom when we meet someone we know unexpectedly:

I was shopping at Lucky's today, and I ran into a friend I hadn't seen for years.

There is nothing violent happening in this case.

CJ

Buriburi · Answer

Thank you for such a detailed answer, CJ

Your explanation is so clear and helpful. Yes, I was very surprised how the same combination got its meaning shifted in different contexts, which will make me so miserable.

Have a wonderful weekend CJ!!

He ran cold water over his bleeding fingers

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