An interesting one, Howard. A friend of mine is a medical records manager in a hospital. There was a protracted argument over whether her section should be named the Medical Records Section or the Medical Record Section. When asked my opinion, I voted for 'records' plural stating that it sounded more 'right'. However, I'm never really satisfied with just 'sounding right' as an explanation. ________________________________ From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Howard.Silcock@xxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Wednesday, 28 February 2007 10:44 AM To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: 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> Sent by: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 28/02/2007 09:47 AM Please respond to austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx To <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> cc Subject atw: Into Linguistic semantics. Topic TRIM File Ref 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. IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail and any attachment to it are intended only to be read or used by the named addressee. It is confidential and may contain legally privileged information. No confidentiality or privilege is waived or lost by any mistaken transmission to you. The RTA is not responsible for any unauthorised alterations to this e-mail or attachment to it. Views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender, and are not necessarily the views of the RTA. If you receive this e-mail in error, please immediately delete it from your system and notify the sender. You must not disclose, copy or use any part of this e-mail if you are not the intended recipient.