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When you turn up a machine or electrical device you change the controls so that it is producing more of something, for example sound or heat.

Examples of use:
1. Can you turn the television up, please?

2. The oven isn’t hot enough. You need to turn it up.

3. It’s freezing in here. I’ll turn up the heating.

When somebody, or something, turns up at a place they arrive there.

Examples of use:
1. I’ve invited twenty people to my party but I don’t know if they will all turn up.

2. I hope the taxi turns up soon.

When something, or someone, turns up they appear unexpectedly, especially if they were lost.

Example of use:
1. My neighbour’s dog ran away last week, and this morning it turned up on her doorstep.

2. I thought I’d lost my English dictionary at college but it turned up at the Reception Desk.

Turn up also means to find something, or to learn something about it, by investigating or by searching.

Examples of use:
1. The police have been looking for clues all day. What have they turned up?

2. Did your research into climate change turn up anything interesting?

infinitive – turn up

present simple – turn up and turns up

-ing form – turning up

past simple – turned up

past participle – turned up

Image by Martin Kingsley

To turn away someone (or turn someone away) means to not let them to enter a place.

Examples of use:
1. We were turned away from the bus because it was full.

2. Paul was turned away from the restaurant because he wasn’t wearing a tie.

3. The shelter for the homeless never turns anyone away.

4. According the Telegraph, hospitals could be forced to turn away critically ill patients if a flu pandemic reaches Britain.

To turn away from someone is to move your face or body so that you are not looking at them.

Examples of use:
1. People turned away from the street beggar.

If you turn away from something you reject it.

Example of use:
1. According to some reports, many people today are turning away from God.

infinitive – turn away

present simple – turn away and turns away

-ing form – turning away

past simple – turned away

past participle – turned away

To turn against someone is to stop liking them and start disliking them and becoming unfriendly towards them.

Example of use:
1. The voters turned against their Member of Parliament when he lied to them.

2. The football coach denies reports he turned against his star player.

To turn someone against someone, or something, is to make them start disliking them.

Example of use:
Sasha’s parents turned her whole family against her boyfriend.

infinitive – turn against

present simple – turn against and turns against

-ing form – turning against

past simple – turned against

past participle – turned against

To turn to something is to start to do or take something (for example, drink, drugs or crime) because your life is not going well.

Examples of use:
1. Kenneth turned to a life of crime when he lost his job.

2. She turned to drink when her husband left her.

To turn to somebody is to ask for help, advice or support.

Examples of use:
1. I didn’t know who to turn to when I lost my passport while on holiday in Brazil.

2. My brothers and sisters and I can always turn to our father for help when we need it.

To turn to something is to begin to think or speak about it, or work on it.

Examples of use:
1. On Remembrance Day, our thoughts turn to those who died in the war.

2. Let’s turn to and get the housework finished as quickly as we can.

3. Our conversation soon turned to the Robinsons and their lottery prize.

infinitive – turn to

present simple – turn to and turns to

-ing form – turning to

past simple – turned to

past participle – turned to

To turn off something (or turn something off) is to stop it from working or flowing with a switch or a tap. Turn off is the opposite of turn on.

Examples of use:
1. Don’t forget to turn the tap off when you’ve finished washing your hands.

2. I’ve turned off all the lights and locked the door.

3. This switch turns off the kitchen light.

To turn off a road is to leave it and travel along a different road.

Example of use:
1. Turn off here, please. My house is the last one on the right.

2. If we turn off at the next junction I’m sure we’ll get there sooner.

To turn off somebody, or turn somebody off something, is to make them lose interest.

Examples of use:
1. Sarah thought she’d found the perfect man, but his enormous hairy feet turned her off.

2. Paula’s husband wanted to cycle across Europe on a tandem, but she managed to turn him off the idea

turn-off (noun) – somebody or something that a person finds offensive or boring.

Examples of use:
1.He has very bad manners. It’s a real turn-off.

2. She didn’t stop talking about herself all night. It was a complete turn-off for him.

turn-off (noun) – a place on a road where you leave to go onto another road, or a road or path that branches off another.

Example of use:
Take the next turn-off and the hotel is 100m down the hill.

infinitive – turn off

present simple – turn off and turns off

-ing form – turning off

past simple – turned off

past participle – turned off

When something turns into something else it becomes that thing.

Examples of use:
1. The caterpillar turned into a chrysalis.

2. The handsome prince turned into a frog

If someone turns something into something else they change it into that thing.

Examples of use:
1. The property developers turned the big old house into four luxury apartments.

2. The empty factory was turned into a museum.

infinitive – turn into

present simple – turn into and turns into

-ing form – turning into

past simple – turned into

past participle – turned into

To turn in is to go to bed. (Informal)

Examples of use:
1. It’s late. I think I’ll turn in.

2. You look tired. Why don’t you turn in early?

To turn somebody in is to tell the police that this person has committed a crime, or to tell the police where they can find a criminal they are looking for.

Examples of use:
1. Our neighbour turned his son in to the police when he discovered he had stolen a car.

2. The bank robber was tired of hiding from the police so he turned himself in.

infinitive – turn in

present simple – turn in and turns in

-ing form – turning in

past simple – turned in

past participle – turned in

To load up something (or load something up) is to put a lot of things, or something heavy, into a vehicle or machine.

Examples of use:
1. Can you load up the washing machine and switch it on while I’m at work, please?

2. The workmen loaded up the truck.

3. I’ll just load up the car with our luggage and then we’ll set off.

infinitive – load up

present simple – load up and loads up

-ing form – loading up

past simple – loaded up

past participle – loaded up

To load down somebody (or load somebody down) is to give them too much to carry. This phrasal verb is usually passive.

Examples of use:
1. The old lady was loaded down with shopping.

2. We were loaded down with suitcases at the airport.

If you are loaded down with something, such as your work or your studies, you have more than you can cope with.

Example of use:
Bob was so loaded down with work that he had to hire an assistant.

infinitive – load down

present simple – load down and loads down

-ing form – loading down

past simple – loaded down

past participle – loaded down

If something is littered with something it has, or contains, a lot of that thing.

Examples of use:
1. The English language is littered with phrasal verbs.

2. His bedroom floor was littered with books and clothes.

3. This town’s streets are littered with rubbish.

litter (noun) – paper and other rubbish left in a public place.

litter (verb) – to drop litter in a place or to scatter litter in a place.