Come into means to enter a room or building. In fixed phrases it means to move into a new state: come into force (start to apply, about a law or rule), come into use (start being used). A less common meaning is to inherit: come into money.
Want to use come into in conversation?
Write a sentence — we'll show the mistakes right away and suggest how to say it more naturally.
The check is taking longer than usual. Your feedback will appear here automatically.
come into + room/building; come into force/effect/use/play; come into money (inherit)
- Everyone stopped talking when the new director came into the meeting room.
- The new rules on hand luggage come into force at the start of June.
- Contactless payments came into everyday use much faster than many people expected.
What changed
First versionThe new law comes in force on 1 January.
RevisionThe new law comes into force on 1 January.
When a law starts to apply, English says come into force, with into, not in. In slips in easily because the phrase in force also exists. Into shows a change: the law moves into action. Effect works the same way: The changes come into effect next month. In force goes after be, when a law is already working: The law is now in force.
Come in is used without an object: Come in, the door's open. If you say where someone went, you need into: She came into the office. Another common phrase is come into play, to start to have an effect: This is where your experience comes into play.
Your turn
My flatmate ___ my room without knocking and asked to borrow my charger.
Show the answer
came into — The flatmate entered the room, and came into is natural here. Enter doesn't need a preposition: entered my room. Enter into is used about agreements and negotiations: enter into an agreement.
Write about a rule that recently came into force in your city, university or company. Say when it came into force and what changed.
In March, a new rule came into force at my university: students can no longer print for free, so I now pay for every page.
Learn to use new words without mistakes
Write phrases with the words you are learning. LetsWords shows mistakes in usage and grammar, suggests corrections and explains them, and review helps the words stick.