TO / AT / IN / INTO

Welcome to your TO / AT / IN / INTO lesson! In this topic we talk about:
• “Go” / “Come” / “Travel” + “To”
• “Been to”
• “Get” and “Arrive”
• “Home”
• “On a bus” / “In a car” etc.
Take the quizzes when you’re ready! If you’re having problems, use the comment box to contact our English Teachers.

“Go” / “Come” / “Travel” + “To”

We say “go”, “come” and “travel” plus “to” an event or place. For example:

“This evening, James is going to London.“

“We travel to South Africa every year.“

“My cousin is coming to London in June.”

In the same way we say “our trip to…”, “our journey to…”, “on my way to…” etc:

“I met Sue on my way to town.”

“Did you enjoy your trip to France?“

“Did they like their trip to the theatre?“

Let’s compare “to” (for movement) with “in” / “at” (for place):

“They are going to Japan.” but “They live in Japan.”

“Are you coming to the picnic?” but “I’ll see you at the picnic.”

“Been to”

We say “been to” + somewhere:

“I’ve lived in London for ten years, but I’ve never been to Buckingham Palace.“

“He’s never been to a concert in all his life.“

“Get” and “Arrive”

We say “get to” + somewhere:

“What time did you get to the theatre?“

But we say “arrive in” or “arrive at” (not “arrive to”). For towns and countries we say “arrive in”:

“We arrived in France at three am.“

“He arrived in Bournemouth in time for dinner.“

For other places or events, we say “arrive at”:

“What time should we arrive at the airport?“

“They arrived at the party at 9pm.”

“Home”

We say “go home”, “come home”, “get home”, “arrive home”, “on my way home” etc. (without a preposition). We do not say “to home”:

“It’s getting late, we should get home.”

“I always go home for lunch.“

“Into”

“Go into”, “get into” etc. mean “enter”:

“I unlocked the door and went into the room.”

“She opened the window and a mosquito flew in.”

With some verbs (especially “go”, “get” or “put”) we often use “in” instead of “into”:

“He unlocked the door and got in the car.“

“I took the papers and put them in the recycling bin.“

The opposite of “into” is “out of”:

“She got out of the car and went into the shop.“

We usually say “get on” or “get off” + a bus / train / plane:

“She waved goodbye and got on the bus.”