The preposition 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。

　　Nevertheless, 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 means ‘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 qualify 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 pillows.

　　答案：✗✓

（编辑：何莹莹）