Professional English Practice · Phrasal Verbs
22 · INTO: transition, investigation, pressure, and collision
Becoming, examining, persuading, and colliding.
ACCESS
Read the scene and notice the moves in bold. One of them, wade into, is never taught in this book. Before you read on, let the particle show you what it means.
An internal audit team, the morning a routine review starts to look like something more.
Nadia The expense flags turned into something bigger. We need to look into the whole vendor list.
Sam I'll dig into the payments over fifty thousand first. That's where the pattern is.
Nadia Good. But don't get talked into narrowing the scope. Finance will push for that.
Sam Understood. I already waded into the reconciliations. Half the receipts are missing.
Nadia Then we delve into the approvals too. Someone signed these off.
Sam Agreed. I ran into the controller this morning. He got defensive the second I mentioned it.
ANALYSIS
ONE QUESTION RUNS THIS WHOLE UNIT
What happens at the crossing?
Into is one picture: crossing a boundary inward. The four senses differ in what the crossing does: something becomes another thing, somebody goes in to look, somebody is moved in against their will, or two things meet at the line.
The structure
Into's hub is physical: crossing a boundary inward. Walk into a room, pour water into a glass. Every abstract sense in this unit is that crossing applied to becoming, examining, pressuring, or colliding.
In the transition sense, one thing crosses over and becomes another: turn into, grow into. In the investigation sense, you go inside a matter to examine it: look into, dig into. In the pressure sense, you move someone into a decision they resisted: talk into, push into. In the collision sense, you cross paths with something and hit it: run into, bump into.
Transition
- Sense
- one thing crosses over and becomes another
- How you know
- what comes out is not what went in
- Use it to
- report a change of state, not a change of place
Investigation
- Sense
- you go inside a matter to examine it
- How you know
- the matter existed before and is unchanged by the looking
- Use it to
- report an inquiry, not a decision
Pressure
- Sense
- somebody is moved across a line they were holding
- How you know
- there was resistance, and somebody else applied force
- Use it to
- report persuasion under pressure
Collision
- Sense
- two things meet at the boundary and hit
- How you know
- neither party planned it
- Use it to
- report an encounter, not a search
The literal sense sits at the top, and all four senses under it belong to this unit. This particle does not split across two.
Going in to look, and being moved in
Investigation and pressure both cross a boundary and the difference is who is doing the crossing, and whether anyone objected.
Look into a delay and you crossed into the matter yourself, and the delay has no opinion about it. Talk somebody into a decision and they crossed the line, you supplied the force, and they were on the other side of it a moment ago.
That is why pressure always has three parts in the sentence, the one who pushes, the one who moves, and the thing they moved into, and investigation only ever has two.
The test you can run with no book
Ask: who crossed, and did anyone resist?
You crossed and nobody resisted: investigation. Somebody else crossed because you pushed: pressure. Nothing crossed and something simply became something else: transition. Two things arrived at the same line at once: collision.
Transition is the one with no traveler at all, which is the quickest way to spot it. Nothing walks in when a delay turns into an overrun; the delay just stops being a delay.
The mechanical half: pressure needs a person as its object. You talk a client into a plan. You cannot talk a plan into a client.
One idea covers them all: into means across the boundary to the inside, and the only question is what crosses: one thing becomes another, you enter a matter to examine it, a person is moved into a choice, or you cross paths and collide. This is why look into a matter and run into a wall use the same particle: both cross a line, one on purpose to examine, one by accident to a stop.
ACTIVATION
Work down the page: the form first, then the strangers, then the particle choices, then the words, then say one out loud.
Complete the form
Use the verb in brackets plus into, in the correct form.
Spot and fix the error
Each sentence has one mistake. Rewrite it correctly.
1. We need to look into the whole vendor list.
2. I'll dig into the large payments first.
3. Don't let them talk you into narrowing the scope.
4. I ran into the controller this morning, purely by chance.
5. The routine review turned into a full investigation.
Rewrite with a phrasal verb
Replace the formal verb with a verb plus into that carries the same meaning.
1. The new team settled into the audit routine by week three.
2. We need to look into the whole vendor list.
3. I'll dig into the large payments.
4. Legal roped me into the vendor review against my will.
5. I ran into the controller this morning.
Match the halves
Join each opening to the ending that completes it.
Meet a Stranger
These three are not taught anywhere in this book. Reason from the particle, then reveal the key.
1. “A routine review morphed into a full investigation.”
2. “We tapped into three years of transaction logs.”
3. “The lead coaxed the reluctant manager into sharing the files.”
morph into: to gradually change into something different. Transition sense.
tap into: to gain access to a resource or supply. Investigation sense.
coax into: to gently persuade someone into doing something. Pressure sense.
Particle swap
Same verb, three particles, one right answer. Choose the particle the situation needs.
Vocabulary: investigation and persuasion
Match each expression to its meaning.
Vocabulary in context
Complete each sentence with an expression from G.