by Jennie Ruby
I don't know whether errors that I see in print with onto and into are due to confusion about these words or due to overzealous spellchecking, but I do know that a copyediting colleague of mine had to Google them the other day while correcting a manuscript. The issue is whether or not there should be a space between the on or in and the to.
Here are two examples showing the two different meanings of onto and on to.
- Now move on to the next step in the process.
- Now move onto the next step of the escalator.
In the first sentence, on and to are two separate words. On changes the meaning of the verb move. Move on is a different activity from just plain move. To is part of the prepositional phrase to the next step. In the second sentence, move is the verb, and onto is part of the prepositional phrase.
Here are some more examples:
- They moved into the new house.
- They moved in to the tune of "Born to Run."
In the first sentence, moved is the verb and into is part of the phrase into the new house. In the second sentence, in changes the meaning of move—moved in is different from just plain moved.
Check out these examples, and watch for others in your work:
- Drag the icon onto your desktop.
- Let's bring a graphical element in to clarify the process.
- Move the mouse pointer into the circle.
- Put some shading in to make the lettering stand out.
- He should call in to the office. [to call in is different from to call]
Don't let your spell checker mistakenly blend these two separate words into one!
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About the Author: Jennie Ruby is a veteran IconLogic trainer and author with titles such as "Editing with Word 2003 and Acrobat 7" and "Editing with MS Word 2007" to her credit. Jennie specializes in electronic editing. At the American Psychological Association, she was manager of electronic publishing and manager of technical editing and journal production. Jennie has an M.A. from George Washington University and is a Certified Technical Trainer (Chauncey Group). She is a publishing professional with 20 years of experience in writing, editing and desktop publishing.
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Join Jennie in our online classes (she'll be teaching two upcoming classes for IconLogic): Writing Training Documents and eLearning Scripts and Editing with Microsoft Word 2007.