Tap into means to make use of a source of something valuable: knowledge, experience, an audience, a market. Small publishers can tap into a global audience online. The image is cutting a tap into a barrel or a pipe and letting it flow: the resource is already there, you just open it.
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tap into + resource / knowledge / market
- The project taps into local knowledge about the coastline.
- Small publishers can tap into a global audience online.
- The workshop helped us tap into ideas we had never discussed.
What changed
First versionThe team tapped on local knowledge of the area.
RevisionThe team tapped into local knowledge of the area.
Tap on is familiar from phone screens, and draw on means use knowledge, so tapped on seems right. But for a resource you need into: tapped into local knowledge. Into shows that you get inside the source.
Use is neutral. Tap into means get access to something that wasn't being used: tap into hidden talent. Draw on means rely on what you already know: draw on your experience. Tap on means touch a screen.
Your turn
Complete the expression meaning draw useful value from a resource: The project taps ___ local expertise.
Show the answer
into — A resource is introduced with into: taps into local expertise. Tap on means physically touching something, like a screen.
Describe whose knowledge, or what resource, helped a project and what it gave.
The museum tapped into volunteers' language skills to welcome more visitors.
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