When she was little and did something naughty, my daughter Rachel would say “Daddy, are you angry to me?” I would scowl and respond, “No, I’m angry with you.” Rachel the child — she’d never make that mistake now — used the wrong preposition when asking her question. Both experienced and novice writers often make similar mistakes with prepositions and in so doing create awkward sentences.

The two prepositions that are probably the most often misused are in and into. The former refers to someone or something that is already within something else; the latter refers to someone or something that moves from outside an object or area to within that object or area. That’s a small but significant difference. If I say, the boy jumped in the river, that means this kid was already in water and decided to jump while remaining there. (Maybe he wanted to make some splashes.) On the other hand, if I say, the boy jumped into the river, then I must mean he entered the water from somewhere else — a dock, a tree, a raft.

It’s not unusual to see writers use in when they should be using into. In my days as an editor, I came across any number of sentences similar to those below:

Once the water comes to a boil, the egg should be dropped in the pan.

When the neighborhood bully came around the corner, the children ran in their house.

Tom joined a gang and soon afterward got in trouble.

In each of these three sentences, into should be used instead of in. Note that in the third sentence, an abstraction — trouble – is what Tom, in effect, moved into after being a law-abiding citizen.

Although rather unusual, there are occasions when in and to should be written as separate words. This can occur when in comes at the end of a verbal phrase while to is part of an infinitive. Consider these examples.

Ann drove in to attend the staff meeting.

I just went in to check on the baseball score.

Notice how awkward these sentences would be if into was kept as a single word.

Ann drove into attend the staff meeting.

I just went into check on the baseball score.

Two other prepositions that are confused as much as in and into are between and among. Use between when referring to one-to-one interactions or relationships.

The ball fell between Sarah and Judy.

He couldn’t decide between a seat on the aisle and a seat in the balcony.

It is also appropriate to use between when the context of a sentence suggests multiple one-to-one relationships.

Negotiations between the warring nations eventually resulted in a peace treaty.

The exchange of ideas that went on between the CEO and her board members helped ease the tension.

Among is used when talking about people or things that are not distinct and are viewed as a group:

A seagull darted among the ships in the harbor.

The candidate could only give effective campaign speeches when he was among his supporters.

Among also is used to indicate that one thing is surrounded by something else:

The hot air balloon drifted among the clouds for hours.

The foul ball fell among the fans behind the dugout.

One thing to keep in mind is that among more often than not is followed by a plural noun. The examples above illustrate that fact — ships, supporters, clouds, fans.

As a writer, try to keep the differences among these prepositions in mind when creating your compositions. Then your editor won’t get angry with you.