Language tip of the week: enter

In this weekly post, we bring more useful content from the Macmillan Dictionary to English language learners. These tips are usually based on areas of English which learners find difficult, e.g. spelling, grammar, collocation, synonyms, etc.

This week’s language tip helps with the verb enter:

Enter is usually a transitive verb, and it takes a direct object. It is not used with the prepositions into or in:
✗ After ~~entering into university~~, students make a lot of new friends.
✓ After entering university, students make a lot of new friends.
✗ Many people pursue a different career before they ~~enter in politics~~.
✓ Many people pursue a different career before they enter politics.

Don’t confuse this use with the phrasal verb enter into, which means ‘to start to take part in a discussion’ or ‘to agree to be part of an agreement or contract’:
Today, eighteen-year olds are considered responsible enough to enter into contracts.