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Ant_222 Posted 19 years ago
Grammar
in/into
Hello,
Here's another little question:
«The Russians had beaten us (the Americans) into space» — that's said in connection with the launch of the Soviet "Spootnik". Having read this sentence I stumbled over that "into" word, what is it for? Shouldn't it be «... had beaten us in space»?
"Into" implies a motion from one point to another, while "in" points to a location — that's how I thought before encountering this.
So, what does this "into" mean?
Thanks in advance!
Here's another little question:
«The Russians had beaten us (the Americans) into space» — that's said in connection with the launch of the Soviet "Spootnik". Having read this sentence I stumbled over that "into" word, what is it for? Shouldn't it be «... had beaten us in space»?
"Into" implies a motion from one point to another, while "in" points to a location — that's how I thought before encountering this.
So, what does this "into" mean?
Thanks in advance!
Top answer
No -in this instance, the Russians won the race into Outer Space, not in Outer Space - they got there first.
- No -in this instance, the Russians won the race into Outer Space, not in Outer Space - they got there first.
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6 Answers
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No -in this instance, the Russians won the race into Outer Space, not in Outer Space - they got there first.
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beaten us into space = won the race (to fly) into space
It's definitely a case of motion. You can continue to think of in as location, intoas motion.
It's definitely a case of motion. You can continue to think of in as location, intoas motion.
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Hello CJ, and thanks for the reply.
«He beat me in the house is considerably different from He beat me into the house.»
I understand this: "he beat me into the house" = "he forced me into the house by means of blows" (however dumb I expressed it).
But if I try to rewrite the space-race sentence in a similar way, I get something different from winning the space race:
«He beat me in the house is considerably different from He beat me into the house.»
I understand this: "he beat me into the house" = "he forced me into the house by means of blows" (however dumb I expressed it).
But if I try to rewrite the space-race sentence in a similar way, I get something different from winning the space race:
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Your interpretation of He beat me into the house is certainly a possible interpretation, but not the relevant one I had in mind. Here's what I had in mind:
He beat me into the house = We had a race to see who could get into the house first. He won the race. (Nothing to do with blows to the body!)
He beat me in the house = He delivered blows to my b
He beat me into the house = We had a race to see who could get into the house first. He won the race. (Nothing to do with blows to the body!)
He beat me in the house = He delivered blows to my b
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