零基础学英语：on to & onto词汇辨析

 　　The preposition¹ onto meaning ‘to a position on the surface of’ has been widely written as one word (instead of on to) since the early 18th century, as in the following sentences:

　　介词onto表示“在物体表面的位置”，在十八世纪早期就被合并成一个单词(用来代替on to)，比如下面的句子：

　　He threw his plate onto the sofa.

　　他将他的盘子扔在了沙发上。

　　The band climbed onto the stage.

　　乐队爬到了舞台上。

　　Nevertheless², some people still don’t accept it as part of standard British English (unlike into) and it’s best to use the two-word form in formal writing.

　　然而，仍有一部分人并不认为这种用法符合英式英语的标准(into的这用用法得到认可)，因此，在正式的写作中最好采用两个单词分开书写的方式。

　　In US English, onto is more or less the standard form: it seems likely that this will eventually become the case in British English too. Remember, though, that you should never write on to as one word when it means³ ‘onwards and towards’. For example:

　　在美式英语中，onto基本被认可为标准的形式：这样看来在英式英语中也有最终得到认可的趋势。但有一点必须记住，当你要使用“on to”来表达“朝向/向前”的意思时，不可将on to写作onto。比如：

　　? Let’s move on to the next point.

　　? Let’s move onto the next point.

　　让我们向下一个目标出发。

　　? Those who qualify⁴ can go on to university.

　　? Those who qualify can go onto university.

　　那些合格的人可以去往大学。

　　小测验：判断对错

　　Finish the task before you go onto the next.

　　Place your back onto the pillows⁵.

　　答案：??

1 preposition   

n.介词

参考例句：

• You should cancel this preposition in the sentence.你应该删去句子中的这个介词。
• We use different preposition to talk about time,days,months and seasons.我们用不动的介词来谈论时间，日，月和季节等。

2 nevertheless   

conj.然而，不过；adv.仍然，不过

参考例句：

• The news may be unexpected;nevertheless,it is true.这消息可能是出乎意料的，然而是真实的。
• We are going nevertheless we shall return.我们要走了，不过我们还要回来。

3 means   

n.方法，手段，折中点，物质财富

参考例句：

• That man used artful means to find out secrets.那人使用狡猾的手段获取机密。
• We must get it done by some means or other.我们总得想办法把它干完。

4 qualify   

vt.取得资格，有资格，限定，描述；vi.取得资格，有资格

参考例句：

• I won't qualify until next year.我明年才具备资格。
• You must qualify yourself for the post.你必须使自己具备担任这一工作的资格。

5 pillows   

n.枕头( pillow的名词复数 )；用作枕头的东西

参考例句：

• She lay back against the pillows. 她半躺半坐靠在枕头上。
• He sat propped up in the bed by pillows. 他靠着枕头坐在床上。 来自《简明英汉词典》