student asking question

Why would the speaker say "into" instead of "onto" here? Didn't Arthur sneeze on the surface of the palm?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

It is actually better to use the preposition "into" here since his hands surrounded his nose and enclosed the sneeze. He may have sneezed on the surface of his palms, but usually when someone uses their hands to sneeze, they cup their hand to enclose the sneeze. Therefore it is more common to use "into" in this context.

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