Sports writers not moving onto better grammar — or should that be “moving on to”?

Ivy Wigmore Profile: Ivy Wigmore

Which is correct?

Windows XP end of life is expected to boost desktop sales because moving ____ to Windows 7 is not a possibility for many older computers.a. on to b. onto

Answer: a.

Explanation:
If you’re moving toward something, the expression is “moving on.”

I wasn’t really surprised to see the numbers of instances of “move onto” online — I’ve been seeing it for years. I was kind of surprised to see this response to my post about the difference between “onto” and “on to”:

@tao_of_grammar: When to use “on to” instead of “onto — do people really get these confused?!

Well, yes. Yes they do. And it may not surprise many readers that most of the top results in a Google search were from … sports writers.

Here are a few examples of erroneous use from the first page of Google search results for “move onto”:

• Smid, Czech Republic move onto quarter-finals
• High school champions move onto state tournaments
• Parrot and Toutant move onto Slopestyle final
• Team Canada beats Finland 2-1 in Sochi; will move onto quarterfinals
• Twitch Plays Pokemon to move onto second generation

OK — I realize that Pokemon is not officially a sport but still, that’s a lot of sports-related examples. Come on, sports writers — up your game, would you? (Note: Never say “up your game” to anyone but sports writers.)

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