Give into or give in to?

ScottsEnglish

What is the correct phrase, give in to  or give into?

A student recently wrote, "He gave into his desire to buy a sports car."

The problem with this sentence is that give into does not exist!

Give in is a phrasal verb, that is, a verb plus a preposition which changes the meaning of the original verb. It means "to surrender" or "to yield". The preposition into means "to go inside" - which the man in the sentence is not doing!

So, the correct sentence is, "He gave in to his desire to buy a sports car."

When spoken, the two sentences sound almost the same "give into" or "give in to", but the correct verb form is "give in to."