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Lesson Transcript

Hi, everybody. Welcome back to Know Your Verbs. My name is Alisha.
And in this lesson, we're going to talk about the verb turn. Let's get started.
Let's start with the basic definition of the verb turn. The basic definition of turn is to change the direction of movement or to change the direction one is facing.
Some examples. Turn left at the next stoplight.
She turned to the door.
Now let's look at the conjugations for this verb. Present, turn, turns. Past, turned. Past participle, turned. Progressive, turning.
Now let's talk about some additional meanings for this verb.
The first additional meaning is to move in a circle from a fixed point.
Some examples.
Turn the key in the lock to open the door.
He turned the handle and rolled down the window.
So this use refers to something making a circular motion, turning in a circular motion, this motion, from a fixed point.
So a fixed point means that the center of that circle or like a center line there does not move.
So that means that this always turns in the same like place or the same location but we make a circular motion in some way.
The first example sentence is about a key.
So turn the key in the lock refers to making a circular turning, this turning motion, a circular motion in a fixed place.
So this does not move but inside this, this fixed place, we make this circular motion with a key.
So turn the key in the lock to open the door.
The second example sentence, maybe you need to know about older cars to imagine this but in this case, he turned the handle and rolled down the window.
In older cars, we saw windows that had a handle.
So we had to turn, make this motion in a car to roll the window down.
So we use turn to talk about this.
The handle in the car is attached to the car so it's in a fixed position and we turn the handle in order to roll the window down.
So we use turn in this way to talk about these circular motions from a point that is set, that is unmoving.
Let's move along to the next additional meaning.
The next meaning is to move to the next page in a book or other document.
Examples, she quickly turned to the next page.
Please turn to page 10 and begin reading.
So this use of turn is very commonly used for books, for newspapers, for any kind of paper document, something that we can read, a physical document or you might see it used in digital books as well.
So to turn means to move from one page to another page.
You might also see turn over used like turn over the paper and read the other side for example.
But when you're reading a physical book and you want to talk about your progression of pages, when you want to talk about this sort of motion, moving to the next page, we typically use the verb turn, turn the page.
The first example sentence was she quickly turned to the next page.
So if you're really excited about a book or you want to describe someone who is, you could say she quickly turned to the next page.
So that means making this motion very quickly to move to the next page in a book.
The second example sentence is perhaps something you would hear in a classroom.
Please turn to page 10 and begin reading.
So that means please open your book, turn until you find page 10 and begin reading there.
So turn to a specific page number is something you might also hear.
The next additional meaning is to use a switch to control something.
Some examples, turn up the volume, turn down the volume, turn off the TV.
So as you can see from these example sentences, this use of turn uses a lot of prepositions.
When we talk about using some kind of switch to control something else, we use prepositions like up or off or on or down.
So in an example sentence like turn up the volume, it means use a switch to control the volume using this motion, a turning motion often, not always, but we use the verb turn to talk about increasing volume.
So turn up the volume.
The opposite turn down the volume means use a switch to control the volume and decrease the volume.
In the example sentence turn off the TV, it means use the controls on the TV and power off.
So turn the power off.
So means like don't use the TV, turn off the TV.
So I mentioned that this is used for switches.
So switch of course can mean a physical like button or a dial that you can turn, but now of course with like smartphones as well, we have screens we can use.
So we can think of these sort of like switches.
There are other methods of controlling things, other kind of technologies.
Even though there's not a switch like an actual button to push, we still use turn up, turn down, turn on and turn off to talk about our activities with these kinds of things.
So you can still use it.
Some interesting combinations that you might hear, for example turn down the TV or turn up the TV, this actually refers to the volume of something.
So some people might say turn up the TV, that means turn up the volume on the TV.
The same thing in reverse, turn down the TV means turn down the volume, decrease the volume on the TV.
So when you hear this turn used along with some kind of machinery, listen for that preposition.
Turn up, turn off, turn down, turn on.
So there are quite a few examples that you can use here, but they basically talk about controlling things.
The next additional meaning is to become, to become.
Some examples, the weather turned ugly.
His attitude turned from excited to disappointed when he heard the news.
So turn means become in these cases, the weather turned ugly.
We can substitute become for turn in this example sentence, the weather became ugly.
So that means the weather was good and then it became bad.
We just use turn to describe that change.
You can choose become or turn, but become is going to sound a lot more formal than turn.
For a more casual expression, you could use get actually, the weather got ugly, that's a great one too.
But you may hear turn to refer to becoming.
So in the second example sentence, his attitude turned from excited to disappointed when he heard the news means his attitude became disappointed.
His attitude changed from excited to disappointed.
We use turn here to mean became in this case.
So if you want to, you can describe these kinds of changes with the verb turn, but you might hear become or as I said get as well.
So you can use turn to talk about these changes or to mean become, but it's just one of a few different choices that you might hear.
You might hear turn, become, change, or get for example, but they all refer to this kind of change taking place or one thing becoming something else.
Let's move along to some variations now.
The first variation is to turn someone or something in.
This means to present or to submit something that is expected.
Some examples, please turn in your homework by tomorrow morning.
A neighbor turned in the burglar who broke into our house.
So to turn something in refers to presenting or submitting something you are expected to provide.
So this is very common in classroom situations.
The teacher will say please turn in your homework.
That means please present your homework.
I am expecting you to present your homework, so please give it to me.
So please turn in your homework, very commonly used in education settings.
We see turn in used for people in typically like police related situations or crime related situations.
In this case, the neighbor turned in the burglar who broke into our house.
That means the neighbor brought to the police the burglar who broke into our house.
So for some reason, the neighbor caught the person who broke into the speaker's house and brought that person to the police station.
So to turn someone in refers to presenting a person but to police specifically.
So when you're talking about those kinds of situations like crime situations, you'll hear turn someone in used to talk about a person being presented to the police.
You can also use this verb reflexively like the burglar turned himself or herself in to the police.
So you can choose to present yourself if you have committed a crime.
We would say to turn oneself in.
The next variation is to turn someone or something over to someone.
This means to give someone responsibility for someone or something.
Some examples, I'm going to turn this project over to you.
The police turn the suspect over to the legal team.
So this means you are passing responsibility for a thing or a person to someone else.
The first example sentence, I'm going to turn this project over to you means I'm going to pass you the responsibility for this project.
That means you get to make all the decisions.
I want you to make the choices.
You have the responsibility.
I'm going to turn this project over to you.
The second example is about a person.
The police turn the suspect over to the legal team.
This means the police originally had control of the suspect but the police turned over the suspect to the legal team.
That means the police passed responsibility for the suspect to the legal team.
In the beginning, the police had control authority over this person but they gave that to the legal team.
You might hear this used when there's a new person joining a company and that person needs to be trained, for example.
You might hear it in legal situations like I've talked about in the second example sentence here or you might just hear it used for like supervising situations in general like in events, for example.
So to turn someone over to someone else needs to be in charge of another person.
Okay, so those are hopefully a few new ways for you to use the verb turn.
As I've said, there are lots of different ways to use turn with prepositions so please check out a dictionary for some more information.
Of course, if you have any questions or comments or if you want to practice making a sentence with the verb turn, please feel free to do so in the comment section of this video.
Thanks very much for watching this lesson and I will see you again soon. Bye-bye.

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