4

Can I say

go to the centre?

Or there is difference in the meaning between

into the centre
to the centre

Improve this question
2
  • 1
    What is the context of what you're trying to say? Both are perfectly viable options but it depends on your intent. Please give us an example sentence of how you want to use this phrase.
    – Catija
    Commented Jul 22, 2016 at 20:16
  • I mean that I have to say centre of town for example, It is open area. and it is not a building just some place in the centre to park a car for example. Can I use INTO in this case?
    – Ariana
    Commented Jul 22, 2016 at 20:37

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
1

That depends on context. Namely, whether the "center" (or "centre") under discussion has an interior.

If there was a large circle drawn on the ground with people standind around it -- perhaps some sort of ball game? -- we might say "Now, John, go to the center". We would not say "in to the center" because there is no "in", it's all outside.

If by "the center" you mean "the Euler Mathematics Study Center", and this is a building, and we are standing outside of it, you might say, "I am going to go in to the center". But if we were miles away and you were talking about driving to it, you'd probably say, "I am going to drive to the center", not "in to the center", because at that point we're not really thinking about inside versus ouside but more about this part of town versus that part of town.

We often talk about being "in such-and-such city". So you might say, "I'm going in to the center of Boston". But frankly I think fluent speakers would be more like to just say "to". But any example where we talk about being "in" a place, you could probably say "in the center" or "in to the center" of that place. (I can't think of exceptions but I don't want to rule them out.)

Improve this answer
1
  • 1
    I do appreciate such an understandable explanation!!! Thanks a lot!!
    – Ariana
    Commented Jul 22, 2016 at 20:35
1

Into the centre

Using into suggests that there is some kind of building or structure or enclosure to enter. You could argue though that the centre is it's own structure of some sort (like a force field) and there is a border between the outside of the centre and the inside.

Let's go into the centre

It basically means that we are going inside the centre.

To the centre

Now there is no structure or enclosure or bordered off area to enter.

Let's go to the centre.

We wouldn't be entering any place or exiting any place. We are simply going towards the centre and once we've reached it, we will have gone to the centre.

Improve this answer
3
  • @dockeryZ - Disagree with yr 1st pgh. "Let's drive into the centre!" is exactly what I said last year when I proposed heading to the centro storico in Greve, only to find that there was no place to park!
    – P. E. Dant Reinstate Monica
    Commented Jul 23, 2016 at 1:33
  • Yeah, when you say it like that, you're implying that you will enter the centre, as if the centre was a separate entity or something.
    – dockeryZ
    Commented Jul 23, 2016 at 1:36
  • It can also suggest that you collided with the centre. For instance, "I drove into the dog". The generally means you either killed the dog or injured it with your vehicle.
    – dockeryZ
    Commented Jul 23, 2016 at 2:57

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .