into, onto..

Question

When to actually use those properly?

W415384914 · Accepted Answer

onto means on the surface of something, but into means in the inner space of something.
eg: Nancy walked onto the stage and took the microphone in her head.

Jane wen into the living room and set down on the sofa.

Tricolorrr533 · Answer

I can see that, but regarding onto's usage, i can't really find a case to use it.. as on has pretty much the same "on the surface" meaning. How to differ them?

W415384914 · Answer

Below is the description of this word in longman dictionary?

on?to S1 W2 ( also on to ) / '?nt? ; before vowels '?nt? ; strong '?ntu? $ '??n-, '??n- / preposition

1 used to say that someone or something moves to a position on a surface, area, or object :
She watched him walk onto the platform.

Don’t jump onto (= into ) the bus while it’s moving.

Pour the syrup on to the egg mixture.

The car rolled over onto its side.

down/out/up etc onto something
Let’s get back onto the highway.

2 used to say that a room, door, or window faces towards something or allows movement into another place :
The dining room looks out onto a pretty garden.

a gate leading on to a broad track

3 be onto somebody informal
a) ( also get onto somebody especially British English ) to speak to someone in order to tell them or ask them something :
A number of people have been onto me complaining about the noise.

Get onto the Press Office and find out what’s happening.

b) to know that a particular person did something wrong or committed a crime :
The police are onto him.

4 be onto something informal
a) to have discovered or produced something new and interesting :
With the new show, we were onto something big.

be onto a good thing/a winner
I think she’s onto a real winner with this song.

b) ( also get onto something ) to be dealing with something or start dealing with something :
I’ll get onto it right away.

Tricolorrr533 · Answer

w415384914a gate leading on to a broad

And in this case? Are 'onto' and 'on to' interchangeable?

W415384914 · Answer

They are completely different. The preposition onto written as one word (instead of on to) is recorded from the early 18th century and has been widely used ever since, but is still not wholly accepted as part of standard British English (unlike into, for example). Many style guides still advise writing it as two words, and that is the practice followed in this dictionary. However, onto is more or less the standard form in US English and in the specialized mathematics sense. Nevertheless, it is important to maintain a distinction between the preposition onto or on to and the use of the adverb on followed by the preposition to: she climbed on to (or onto) the roof but let’s go on to (not onto) the next point.

Tricolorrr533 · Answer

wow, now that was well explained, I really appreciate it.
Either way, I always find so much trouble finding when to use into and onto... Although I have reached the Proficiency level for my English, I just feel frustrated I can't find when to use some words..

W415384914 · Answer

Dictionary is your teacher.

into, onto..

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