also on to
Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.
Note: In addition to the uses shown below, '~' is used in phrasal verbs such as ‘hold ~’ and ‘latch ~’.
1.
If something moves or is put ~ an object or surface, it is then on that object or surface.
I took my bags inside, lowered myself ~ the bed and switched on the TV...
Smear Vaseline on to your baby’s skin to prevent soreness.
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2.
You can sometimes use ~ to mention the place or area that someone moves into.
The players emerged ~ the field...
Alex turned his car on to the Albert Quay and drove along until he found a parking place.
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3.
You can use ~ to introduce the place towards which a light or someone’s look is directed.
...the metal part of the door ~ which the sun had been shining...
...the house with its leafy garden and its view on to Regent’s Park.
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4.
You can use ~ to introduce a place that you would immediately come to after leaving another place that you have just mentioned, because they are next to each other.
...windows opening ~ carved black-wood balconies...
The door opened ~ a lighted hallway.
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5.
When you change the position of your body, you use ~ to introduce the part your body which is now supporting you.
As he stepped backwards she fell ~ her knees, then ~ her face...
I willed my eyes to open and heaved myself over on to my back.
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6.
When you get ~ a bus, train, or plane, you enter it in order to travel somewhere.
As he got on to the plane, he asked me how I was feeling...
‘I’ll see you ~ the train.’—‘Thank you.’
? off
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7.
Onto is used after verbs such as ‘hold’, ‘hang’, and ‘cling’ to indicate what someone is holding firmly or where something is being held firmly.
The reflector is held ~ the sides of the spacecraft with a frame...
She was conscious of a second man hanging on to the rail...
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8.
If people who are talking get ~ a different subject, they begin talking about it.
Let’s get on to more important matters...
So, if we could just move ~ something else?
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9.
You can sometimes use ~ to indicate that something or someone becomes included as a part of a list or system.
The Macedonian question had failed to get on to the agenda...
The pill itself has changed a lot since it first came ~ the market...
Twelve thousand workers will go ~ a four-day week at their factory in Birmingham.
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10.
If someone is ~ something, they are about to discover something important. (INFORMAL)
He leaned across the table and whispered to me, ‘I’m really ~ something.’...
Archaeologists knew they were ~ something big when they started digging.
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11.
If someone is ~ you, they have discovered that you are doing something illegal or wrong. (INFORMAL)
I had told people what he had been doing, so now the police were ~ him.
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