Learn to Use the Phrasal Verb "Turn Out"

Added: 2026-05-04

[00:00:00]The phrasal verb turn out has at least four different meanings.

[00:00:07]You can use this when talking about a result or when talking about the number of people who appeared at an event or some type of activity.

[00:00:21]We use turnout for production. That's an amount of material created or manufactured.

[00:00:30]And you can also use turnout as a substitute for turn off when talking about lighting or lights.

[00:00:46]To ask a question about a result, you can start with how. How did the And then this is the thing turn out.

[00:00:59]How did the test turn out? If you took a test, how did it turn out? Or how did your test turn out? If it's food and you make something like pizza, how did the pizza turn out? We often use this with food.

[00:01:21]How did the pie turn out?

[00:01:26]It could be an experiment. This is often used with things that are tried for the first time. How did the experiment turn out?

[00:01:38]When you answer, you could start with it if it's for one thing, but you could use they turned out and then you can use an adjective right here. They turned out great.

[00:01:59]It turned out great. Or it turned out terrible.

[00:02:06]It turned out bad.

[00:02:10]It turned out okay. So, here are the results.

[00:02:16]This is in the past tense. And so, this would be similar if you were to use was, but I think this is a better choice because you're talking about the result.

[00:02:30]It turned out great. It was great. It turned out terrible. It was terrible.

[00:02:36]It turned out bad. It was bad. But turn out emphasizes the result.

[00:02:45]You can also use a clause after turns out or turned out. It doesn't matter which one you use. This would be the present tense. This would be the past tense.

[00:02:59]It turns out that and this begins the clause. It turns out that you were right.

[00:03:16]This is the result. After something happened, I found out that you were right. It turns out that you were right.

[00:03:26]or it turned out that you were right. It doesn't matter if you use the present tense or the past tense. These are almost interchangeable when talking about a result. I took my car to a mechanic.

[00:03:43]After he looked at the car, it turns out that I need new brakes.

[00:03:50]This is the result of having taken my car to a mechanic. The pronoun that is not necessary if you want to drop it. It turns out I need new brakes or it turns out that I need new breaks.

[00:04:11]Here's another situation.

[00:04:14]At first I thought the student was not interested in the class. That was my first thought.

[00:04:26]It turns out and then whatever follows could be the opposite of my first impression or it could match my first impression. It turns out I was wrong.

[00:04:43]it turns out that I was wrong or it turns out I was right.

[00:04:54]So, my first impression of this student was correct.

[00:05:01]It turns out I was right. When talking about a result, you'll often use an infinitive after it turned out, use to be. Here's the infinitive for the verb be. It turned out to be. And then we can have an adjective here. It turned out to be excellent.

[00:05:29]It turned out to be useful.

[00:05:33]or the opposite, it turned out to be useless.

[00:05:39]It turned out to be a mistake.

[00:05:44]This would be a noun after the infinitive. It turned out to be a mistake or it turned out to be a good decision.

[00:06:00]All of these are results.

[00:06:08]When asking about the number of people who appear at an event, you can ask the question this way or this way. How was the turnout? In this case, you're actually using a noun or how many people turned out? And in this case, you're using the phrasal verb, how many people turned out.

[00:06:33]To answer this question, you could begin with the number or an amount.

[00:06:40]20 people turned out or a lot of people turned out. If it's a smaller number, you could say not many people turned out. Or you could just say few.

[00:07:02]Not a few, but just few.

[00:07:05]Few people turned out. I use turnout when talking about the number of people who come to my classes at night or during the day. I had a class last Wednesday at night. Only eight people turned out. That's a small number. There should be somewhere between 20 and 25 people, but only eight people turned out.

[00:07:34]Not good. The attendance has been bad lately. There was a big celebration here last week.

[00:07:42]Thousands of people turned out. Here's the phrasal verb in the past tense. You could also use it as a noun and say the turnout.

[00:07:58]I think that would be two words, but I'll use one. The turnout was good.

[00:08:11]We use turnout for manufacturing and production of things.

[00:08:18]How many? And then here are the things.

[00:08:22]How many cars? How many drones? How many computers do they turn out per day? So, how many things do they make? And then they answer.

[00:08:38]For the subject, we can use they. This represents the company. They turn out 1,000. And then we'll just use the word units. This could be for anything. 1,00 units per day.

[00:09:02]units could be replaced with, trucks, drones, computers.

[00:09:17]These are things that are manufactured and completed per day. Turnout can also be used for people graduating from college and then entering a workplace.

[00:09:32]How many and then here's the profession.

[00:09:36]How many teachers, how many doctors, how many lawyers do colleges turn out every year?

[00:09:45]And then you could put the answer here.

[00:09:50]they turn out and then here is the number of people per year. Per year is every year they turn out 10,000 teachers per year.

[00:10:16]You can use turnout in the same way that you use turn off when talking about lights. Those are electric lights.

[00:10:26]Please turn out the lights when you are finished. In this sentence, you could just replace out with off. And the meaning is the same. Who turned out the lights?

[00:10:38]Who turned off the lights?

[00:10:41]I really don't think much about the choice between these two. Turn out or turn off. They are the same. How did the video turn out? Did it help you?

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