atw: Re: Into Linguistic semantics. [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

In the New Fowler's Modern English Usage, it says this about 'into' versus 
'in to':  "the two words should be written separately when the sense is 
separate, most commonly when 'in' is a full adverb and 'to' is an 
infinitive marker and means 'in order to'". He gives the examples: 'People 
dropped in to see him', 'the maid looked in to ask if they wanted coffee' 
and 'the Secretary of State, George Shultz, slipped in to replace Reagan'. 
The implication appears to be that otherwise you should write 'into'. 
Example: 'he was reduced to staring into the water'. 

That doesn't seem to be a very clear and definite rule, but I'd say your 
example would fall into [not 'fall in to'!] the second category, so it 
should read 'putting new files into the course resources folder'. 

Your example reminds me of another question that I often ponder about. In 
forming a phrase like 'resources folder', when would you leave the first 
word in the plural? We wouldn't say 'peas soup', even though it would be 
made with more than one pea, or 'cakes shop' or 'four doors car'. Yet 
there are cases where we do use the plural, such as 'Senate estimates 
committee'.

 When I was working on maintenance procedures for submarines, the French 
engineer wanted to use the heading 'Grounding straps cleaning'. I changed 
it to 'Grounding strap cleaning' and told him that, even though there was 
more than one grounding strap, his wording just didn't sound right - and 
then I probably gave him the 'four door car' example. But I've never found 
a discussion of this topic in any book on usage.

There's another question you can ponder while you have the time, Warren!

Howard




"Warren Lewington" <warren.lewington@xxxxxxxxxx> 
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Hello all. I was  wondering about this. I have written "... putting new 
files into the course  resources folder."
 
I debated with  myself whether it could be "...putting new files in to the 
course  folder."
 
I resorted to the  preceding verb rule; that 'in' should be tied to a 
preceding verb. I  am curious about the "putting new files" phrase. Could 
you use "...in to..." or  is that just plain bad form? Or, conversely, 
should you really use  "into"? 
 
I hope this isn't  too obvious a question. It seems to me you could go 
either way... In any case,  it is really nice to have the time in a gig to 
actually really think about the  context and usage of the writing. Maybe I 
am thinking too much, it could explain  the headache. 
 
Regards to  all;
Warren.

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