One English word that bothers me.
Hello. I had an important exam and I remember writing search into (I wanted it to mean investigate, I didn't write investigate because I had to use phrasal verb 
Shortly after my examination I realized that I should have written look insted of search . Then I looked up1 this word in online dictionary and there was 'search into' meaning investigate, inquire, look into Now question for natives : is it OK to use search into ?
5 Answers
"Search into" is not a phrasal verb.
If you were in grade school in the U.S., your teacher would admonish you about using "search into" even though she and everyone else would understand what you meant. When you "search" you "look into", "seek in", "explore within", etc. When you "search" you are already "going into" or "looking in" or "inspecting" -the word IN is implied- and saying "search into" is equivalent to "inspecting into", "seeking in into", etc. Otherwise, it is perfectly understandable, just sounds odd.
Ok I will do it
It makes sense, but sounds a little awkward to me because I've rarely or never heard it used. It's okay to maybe use it when in a familiar setting where grammar doesn't matter too much because people will still catch the meaning of it, but look into would be much more preferred
Hello Tomekcrr; I'd strongly recommend that you fill out the information in your user profile. That will help us provide you with the best possible answers, possibly even by giving you examples in your native language.
Sometimes "search" and "investigate" can be synonymous. For example: I will search for the correct answer. I will investigate the answer to that. Search implies a less formal procedure than an investigation.
Sometimes search an investigate cannot be used interchangeably though. For example: "A commission was set to investigate the accusations made against Senator Shady". You cannot write "search" in there, because it would mean something different.
