lure (someone) to do something or lure (someone) into doing something

Question

First of all, I'd like to know why this verb is usually followed by an object rather than a verb. For example:

John lured Kate to his house.

(rather than)

Jack lured Tim into stealing money from his mom.

Why do most of the examples I found in the dictionaries show only the first use of the word?(see for example Collins) Does the second example sound so strange? If so, are better verbs to use?

Second, suppose we agreed to use lure+verb, which of the following should be used?

Jack lured Tim into stealing money from his mom.

Jack lured Tim to steal money from his mom.

Answer 1

The correct form is

Jack lured Tim into stealing money from his mom.

with preposition into + gerund stealing.

In the first example

John lured Kate to his house

it is (1) subject + (2) conjugated verb + (3) direct object + (4) preposition + (5) indirect object

i.e. (1) John + (2) lured + (3) Kate + (4) to + (5) his house

whereas in the second example

Jack lured Tim into stealing money from his mom.

it is (1) subject + (2) conjugated verb + (3) direct object + (4) preposition + (5) gerund verb + (6) direct object + (7) preposition + (8) indirect object

i.e. (1) Jack + (2) lured + (3) Tim + (4) into + (5) stealing + (6) money + (7) from + (8) his mom

Most dictionaries only show the first use

John lured Kate to his house

as it is the simpler form of subject / verb / direct object / indirect object rather than including a second verb in the gerund form (e.g. stealing) and then additional objects.

Answer 2

In at least one of your examples there is a difference:

John lured Kate to his house.

"To" does not specify that Kate entered the house. It could simply mean she reached the exterior. For example "I went to the shop but it was closed".

But:

John lured Kate into his house.

Makes it quite clear that Kate entered the house.

It also makes a difference regarding the "luring". In the first example John evidently enticed Kate to leave wherever she was previously and go to the house. In the second example it could be that Kate went to the house of her own volition and then was "lured" inside.

Likewise when using the expression in connection with doing something; that is not literally causing someone to go to or into something, you would normally see it described as saying someone was lured into something because implies that they are involved.