Do you know the difference between 'onto' and 'on to'?
- Amanda George
- Oct 14, 2024
- 2 min read
Updated: 5 hours ago

Do you know the difference between 'onto' and 'on to'?
If you don't, you're not alone. And I hope this blog post will help you to spot the difference. Read on for the theory, some examples and a challenge.
🆃🅷🅴 🆃🅷🅴🅾🆁🆈:
𝕆𝕟𝕥𝕠 is a preposition, meaning 𝕠𝕟 or 𝕦𝕡𝕠𝕟 (in terms of position). And 𝕠𝕟 𝕥𝕠 is generally made up of 𝕠𝕟 from a phrasal verb and 𝕥𝕠 from an infinitive or preposition. 𝕆𝕟𝕥𝕠 can also be used in the sense of 𝕓𝕖𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕒𝕨𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕠𝕗 𝕤𝕠𝕞𝕖𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘 (used more informally).
🆃🅷🅴 🅴🆇🅰🅼🅿🅻🅴🆂:
✒️ The cat jumped onto the dog's back.
Here, 𝕠𝕟𝕥𝕠 is a preposition meaning 𝕠𝕟 or 𝕦𝕡𝕠𝕟.
✒️ She moved 𝕠𝕟 𝕥𝕠 her main course.
Here, 𝕠𝕟 is part of the phrasal verb 𝕞𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕕 𝕠𝕟 and 𝕥𝕠 is a preposition.
✒️ He logged 𝕠𝕟 𝕥𝕠 do his homework.
Here, 𝕠𝕟 is part of the phrasal verb 𝕝𝕠𝕘𝕘𝕖𝕕 𝕠𝕟 and 𝕥𝕠 is part of the infinitive 𝕥𝕠 𝕕𝕠.
✒️ She's 𝕠𝕟𝕥𝕠 us.
Here, 𝕠𝕟𝕥𝕠 means 𝕤𝕙𝕖 𝕜𝕟𝕠𝕨𝕤 𝕨𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕨𝕖'𝕣𝕖 𝕕𝕠𝕚𝕟𝕘.
🅰🅽🅳 🅷🅴🆁🅴'🆂 🅰 🆂🅴🅽🆃🅴🅽🅲🅴 🆆🅸🆃🅷 🅰🅻🅻 🅵🅾🆄🆁:
✒️ She was 𝕠𝕟𝕥𝕠 us, so we had to move 𝕠𝕟 𝕥𝕠 a new target, which meant jumping 𝕠𝕟𝕥𝕠 the next bus and logging 𝕠𝕟 𝕥𝕠 do our reconnaissance.
Can you create one? It's satisfying, trust me.
Don't want to worry about this stuff? I've got you covered.
Whether you’re working on a blog post, a business report or an academic paper, small details like punctuation and word choice can make a big difference to your writing. If you found this post helpful, you’ll find more practical tips on grammar, punctuation and writing in my other blogs. Or feel free to get in touch if you need professional support.
Comments