You can be smarter than college graduates with this one. Even some bestselling authors and experienced editors mistakenly use “in” when they should use “into,” carelessly encouraging readers to form an incorrect picture from their words.
Finding the correct word is simply a matter of asking whether we’re coming from the outside or we’re already there. If the action takes us from outside to inside, then we need “into.” Otherwise, if we’re already there, with the action taking place inside, we want the simple “in.”
For example, Jill jumped into the shower. The picture is clear. Jill got undressed, opened the shower door, and turned on the water. Sometimes, you may see the sentence worded this way: Jill jumped in the shower. Using “in” instead of “into” can confuse readers. What is happening here? It sounds like Jill is already in the shower, has the water on, and is jumping up and down. Evidently, she’s really excited about being in the shower.
The confusion comes from what we call “prepositional verbs.” If you want to read more about those, Click Here. Their proper use often results in a preposition falling at the end of the sentence. Contrary to what you may have been taught in school, this is just fine. Jill got undressed, turned on the shower, and jumped in.
