The term go to as two words is correct and refers to going to a place. E.g., “We must go to Paris next year.” Furthermore, go-to with a hyphen is a compound adjective describing something you rely on. E.g., “My mum is my go-to person for advice.” Goto is incorrect.
You can write the term go to in two different ways.
The first is as two words without a hyphen. In this form go to is a phrasal verb that refers to going to places or events.
Here are some examples of go to as a phrasal verb.
- He should go to the doctor if he feels sick.
- If you’re ever in town, you must go to the museum; it’s fantastic.
- She said she would go to the market later to pick up some fresh vegetables.
- I need to go to the bank tomorrow morning to deposit a check.
In addition, go-to with a hyphen is a compound word that refers to something you trust in or rely on for something.
You can review these examples to see how to use go-to in this context:
- My go-to place when I want comfort food is Burger King.
- When it comes to software for graphic design, Adobe Photoshop is my go-to choice.
- Whenever I need advice or a listening ear, she’s my go-to person.
- His go-to outfit for formal events is a classic navy blue suit.
Furthermore, the structure we described above is what you should follow when writing in AP Style or Chicago Style.
Also, the rules are the same in both the US and the UK.
Now that you have learned the basics of how to use the term go to, please continue reading to find out more about using the different word types.
Go To
The term go to as two words is a phrasal verb that refers to going to places or seeing things.
In this context, you do not need to use a hyphen because the term go to does not modify a noun.
Therefore, even though a noun follows the term go to, it refers to going to that place rather than describing it.
As shown in these examples:
- I need to go to my parent’s house this weekend.
- He didn’t want to go to work today because he had a fever.
- She has to go to the post office to mail the package.
- We should go to the park early if we want to avoid the afternoon crowd.
- They plan to go to the concert next week if tickets are still available.
Go-To
The term go-to with a hyphen is an adjective that describes a noun.
In this context, you use go-to before almost any noun of place, person, or object to indicate that it is your trusted or favored one.
For example, you can use go-to to refer to people.
- My go-to person in a crisis is my father.
- In matters of finance, my go-to expert is my accountant.
- Whenever I have technical issues, my go-to guy is Jack from the IT department.
- For fashion advice, my go-to friend is Natasha; she always knows the latest trends.
- When I’m feeling down, my go-to companion is my pet dog, Max.
Alternatively, you can use it to refer to objects.
- My go-to recipe for dinner parties is salmon and mashed potato.
- When I travel, my go-to bag is a lightweight backpack.
- For morning workouts, my go-to drink is a green smoothie.
- My go-to book for inspiration is “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho.
- On hot days, my go-to outfit is a loose cotton dress.
In both examples above, the word go-to appears directly before the word it modifies.
Goto
The term goto as one word is not a correct spelling.
It is, however, a word that refers to a Filipino rice dish. In addition, sometimes people write goto with a capital “t” as GoTo when using it in computer programming, which does not allow for spaces.
Aside from that, you should not use goto as one word to refer to a go-to place or person. Likewise, it is not correct grammar to use goto to refer to going to a place.
Here are some examples of how to correctly use go-to:
- My go-to snack during movie nights is popcorn.
- Whenever I need motivation, my go-to song is “Eye of the Tiger.”
- In cold weather, my go-to jacket is the thick woolen one my grandmother knit for me.
Also, here are examples of how to use go to:
- Tomorrow, I need to go to the grocery store to pick up some supplies.
- She always wanted to go to Paris and see the Eiffel Tower.
- After school, he would often go to the library to study.
That’s all you need to know! Hopefully, you now feel confident using go to and go-to in your writing.