English prepositions IN, INTO, ON, ONTO

In this English lesson you will see how we use the English prepositions IN, INTO, ON, ONTO.

Many students have problems with these prepositions as they are easy to confuse. 

However, the rules are easy to remember and you shouldn’t have doubts in the future.

Basically, we use IN and ON for position, for example:

• The car is in the garage. 
• The playground is in the park.
• The ball is on the roof. 
• The kids are sitting on the couch. 

And we use INTO and ONTO for movement:

• I drove the car into the garage. 
• She walked into the room. 
• I kicked the ball onto the roof. 
• The kids ran onto the road. 

On and In

However, things can get difficult because we can also use ON and IN for directional movement after certain verbs:

• John dove in/into the pool.
• She threw the books in/into the bin. 
• He jumped on/onto the horse. 
• We put the liquid in/into the jar. 

As you can see, after these verbs we can use both prepositions with the same meaning. 

However, we use into/onto for the movement itself, and in/on when we refer to the end of the movement. 

It sounds a little complicated but if in doubt, use either one. 

All is explained in more detail the English leaning video. If you have any questions, leave them in the comments section below. 

Don’t forget to start practicing using these prepositions as soon as you can. 

The sooner you start using them, the more confident you will become and the better your English will be. 

Also, don’t be afraid to make mistakes when you speak and write English. It is the only way to improve. 

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