Which of these two is correct? To my understanding, the latter, because when talking about motion, into should be used. However, when it's the location that matters, in should be used.He jumped in the water.
He jumped into the water.
However, if I google "jumped in the water", I still get many hits. How come? Am I wrong, or do even native speakers use in and into interchangeably?
Thank you in advance.
***** NOT A TEACHER *****
(1) I checked Mr. Michael Swan's reliable Practical English Usage.
He advises us to use "into" when we think of the movement itself:
The children keep jumping into the flowerbeds.
He advises us to use "in" when we think more of the end of the movement:
Go and jump in the river.
(2) Here in the United States of America, we have a phrase that some people say
when they are angry with someone, but they do not want to say anything too
strong:
Go jump in the lake! (It is NOT so strong as: Go to H - - -! )
Google hits are not to be considered a good source for correct English.
There are only 817 for "jump at the water", but it's there.![]()
You amateurs are not really trying. I got 65 million hits for jumped before the water, and 1,400 when I put those words inside inverted commas.
Context is always important; labelling is rarely important.