Turn up is a phrasal verb with two everyday jobs: to arrive or appear, often without warning, and to raise the level of a device. To use turn up in a sentence, check what follows it, because “The guests turned up at eight” takes no object while “turn the volume up” does.
Turn up at a glance
- Turn up is a phrasal verb; its forms are turn up, turns up, turned up and turning up.
- The arrive sense is intransitive: nothing sits between the verb and the particle.
- The increase sense is separable: turn the radio up and turn up the radio are both correct.
- The discover sense takes a thing as its object, as in police turned up new evidence.
- The commonest error is forcing an object onto the intransitive arrive sense.
What does turn up mean?
Turn up is a phrasal verb meaning to arrive or appear, usually when nobody is expecting you. The same verb also means to increase the level of a device, and in news writing to discover something by chance. The Cambridge entry for turn up records the arrive and increase senses, while the discover sense appears in sentences such as officers turned up a stolen bicycle in a garden shed.
| Sense | Plain meaning | Example sentence |
|---|---|---|
| Arrive or appear | Show up somewhere, often late or uninvited | The plumber turned up two hours late. |
| Increase a setting | Make a device louder, hotter or brighter | Turn up the heating before the guests arrive. |
| Discover by chance | Find something while looking elsewhere | The audit turned up three missing invoices. |
| Happen or occur | Of an event, come about unexpectedly | Something always turns up to spoil the plan. |
One limitation is worth stating plainly. In its arrive sense, turn up is informal and slightly offhand, so a formal report should say the witness appeared without warning rather than turned up. It also does not mean to be invited; a guest who never received a message can still turn up at the wrong door.
How do you use turn up in a sentence?
The position of up decides the meaning. Three patterns cover almost every sentence, and only two of them allow the particle to move. The increase sense takes an object and lets it sit either side of up, but the arrive sense is intransitive and takes no object at all.
| Pattern | Example | What it signals |
|---|---|---|
| turn up (no object) | The bus never turned up. | Arrive or appear; nothing can follow up. |
| turn + object + up | She turned the speaker up. | Separable increase sense with a short object. |
| turn up + object | She turned up the speaker. | Same meaning; up stays with the verb. |
| turn up + thing | They turned up a rare coin. | Discover by chance; the thing is the object. |
| turn up + adjective | He turned up drunk. | Describes the state of someone arriving. |
The contrast with its partner particle is worth learning early: turn down an offer is the opposite of accepting it, while turn on the light changes a switch rather than a level. Only turn up carries the arrive sense, which is why it is the flexible one.
Turn up in a sentence: examples across contexts
The verb keeps its meaning but changes company. The nine sentences below move from a playground to a news desk, and each one shows whether an object follows.
| Context | Example sentence | Why this works |
|---|---|---|
| Classroom | Half the class turned up without their homework. | The arrive sense needs no object, so the sentence stays short. |
| Workplace email | Please turn the projector up before the briefing. | Separable increase sense with a definite object. |
| News report | Inspectors turned up unsafe wiring in three schools. | The discover sense treats the fault as the object. |
| Travel | Our train turned up forty minutes behind schedule. | An inanimate subject can arrive, which suits transport. |
| Conversation | Guess who turned up at the reunion. | Informal and slightly surprised, the natural spoken register. |
| Technical writing | Turn up the gain until the signal clips. | Instructions favour the separable imperative with a clear object. |
| Academic prose | The survey turned up a pattern the authors had not predicted. | Discover sense as a report verb, followed by a noun phrase. |
| Sports commentary | The substitute turned up ready to play despite the short notice. | Adjective after the verb describes how someone arrived. |
| Everyday planning | If anything turns up, call me before six. | The happen sense needs no object and takes a clause after it. |
Notice that none of the arrive sentences can take an object. You can arrive on time and you can turn up on time, but you cannot turn a meeting up. When you add up the figures, by contrast, the object is the whole point.
Turn up vs turn down
Turn up and turn down share a verb and mean opposite things, which is why learners mix them.
| Attribute | turn up | turn down |
|---|---|---|
| Core meaning | Arrive, appear or increase | Refuse, reject or reduce |
| Transitivity | Intransitive in the arrive sense | Transitive in the refuse sense |
| Typical subject | A person, a bus or a missing item | A person, a committee or a dial |
| Register | Informal when it means arrive | Neutral in both senses |
| Common object | A volume, a level or a found thing | An offer, a request or a setting |
Verdict: use turn up when something or someone arrives or a level rises, and turn down when a request is refused or a level falls. The pair rarely overlap, because arriving and refusing are different jobs.
Word forms and grammar of turn up
Turn up inflects like any regular verb, and the particle never changes. The table also separates the noun form, which is easy to confuse with the verb.
| Form | Part of speech | Example |
|---|---|---|
| turn up | verb, base form | Please turn up at nine. |
| turns up | verb, third person singular | She turns up whenever there is cake. |
| turned up | verb, past and past participle | The keys turned up under the sofa. |
| turning up | verb, present participle | He keeps turning up unannounced. |
| turn-up | noun, informal | A surprise visit was a real turn-up. |
| turnup | noun, spelling variant | The programme listed a turnup in act two. |
The noun turn-up means an unexpected event and is chiefly a British usage, so treat it as a bonus sense rather than the main one. Keep the two words separate in writing: the verb is always two words, the noun often one.
Common mistakes with turn up
- Incorrect:
The guests turned up the party.Correct: The guests turned up at the party. Rule: The arrive sense is intransitive, so no object follows it; add a preposition instead. - Incorrect:
Please turn up it.Correct: Please turn it up. Rule: A pronoun object must sit between the verb and the particle. - Incorrect:
She turned up the radio was loud.Correct: She turned up the radio. Rule: The verb takes a noun phrase, never a clause. - Incorrect:
We waited but he did not turn up him.Correct: We waited but he did not turn up. Rule: Never add an object to the arrive sense. - Incorrect:
The evidence turned up it during the trial.Correct: The evidence turned up during the trial. Rule: Keep the discover sense to a thing, and never a pronoun after up.
Practice using turn up
Work through the six items, then compare your reasoning with the answers rather than only the key.
- Fill the gap: The electrician ______ an hour after the shop closed.
- Choose the better word: Please (turn up / turn down) the music; the baby is asleep.
- Correct the error: The cleaners turned up the gym was locked.
- Build a sentence: use turn up about a friend arriving at a surprise party.
- Spot the register: which belongs in a formal report — the witness turned up, or the witness appeared?
- Rewrite with a pronoun object: Turn up the heater. Use it instead of the heater.
Answers
- turned up — the electrician arrives, so the verb needs no object.
- turn down — the meaning is reduce, the opposite of turn up.
- The cleaners turned up and found the gym locked — the verb cannot take a clause.
- Model answer: Maya turned up at the party just as everyone shouted surprise.
- The witness appeared — a formal report avoids the offhand verb turn up.
- Turn it up — a pronoun object sits between the verb and up.
The bottom line
Use turn up in a sentence when someone arrives without warning or when a level rises, and let the object decide which pattern you need. The two nuances that settle most sentences are these: the arrive sense is intransitive, so nothing follows up, and the increase sense is separable, so a pronoun object must sit in the middle. Watch the sense before you choose the word order.
Frequently asked questions about turn up
Is turn up formal or informal?
Turn up is informal in its arrive sense and neutral in its increase sense. A friend saying she turned up late sounds natural, but a police report would say the suspect appeared or arrived. Match the verb to the setting, and keep the increase sense for instructions, where it is perfectly standard.
What is the difference between turn up and show up?
Both mean to arrive or appear, and the two are close synonyms. Show up is slightly more American and a little more casual, while turn up is common in British English. In a sentence such as the guests turned up early, either verb fits without changing the meaning.
Can you say turn up the volume?
Yes. The increase sense is separable, so turn up the volume and turn the volume up are both correct. When the object is a pronoun, only the split order works: turn it up, never turn up it. This rule holds for every separable phrasal verb with the same shape.
Does turn up need an object?
It depends on the sense. The arrive sense is intransitive and takes no object, so the taxi turned up is complete. The increase and discover senses are transitive and need an object, as in turn up the heat or turn up evidence. Check the meaning before you add one.
“Have you ever needed to adjust the volume on your radio or increase the heat on your stove? When you make something louder, hotter, or more intense, you are essentially ‘turning up’ the level of that particular element. In English, ‘turn up’ is a phrasal verb that denotes the act of raising or amplifying something.”
“Whether it’s turning up the sound on your favorite song or turning up the flavor in your soup with extra spices, ‘turn up’ is a versatile phrase used in various contexts. Understanding how to properly use and conjugate ‘turn up’ in sentences can greatly improve your communication skills and make your expressions more vibrant and engaging.”
7 Examples Of Turn Up Used In a Sentence For Kids
- Turn up the volume so we can all hear the music.
- Can you help me turn up the page of this book?
- Let’s all turn up our smiles and have a good day.
- I love to turn up the heat and make delicious food.
- It’s time to turn up the fun and play some games.
- Don’t forget to turn up your sleeves before starting to work.
- Let’s all turn up our voices and sing a happy song.
14 Sentences with Turn Up Examples
- Turn up for the workshop on time to secure a seat.
- Don’t forget to turn up with your ID card for the event.
- Turn up at the library early to find a good study spot.
- Remember to turn up for your group project meeting to contribute your ideas.
- Turn up for the game night with your favorite snacks.
- Make sure to turn up for the career fair to meet potential employers.
- Turn up for the sports tournament to cheer on your college team.
- Join the dance team and turn up to practice twice a week.
- Turn up at the canteen for the college’s special biryani day.
- Take a break from studying and turn up at the music concert on campus.
- Don’t miss the chance to turn up for the guest lecture by a renowned professor.
- Turn up at the computer lab to work on your coding assignment.
- Turn up to the campus protest to support an important cause.
- Plan a movie night with your friends and turn up with popcorn and drinks.
How To Use Turn Up in Sentences?
When you want to express that something has increased in intensity, level, or volume, you can use the phrasal verb Turn Up. For example, “The music at the party turned up and everyone started dancing.”
To use Turn Up correctly in a sentence, follow these steps:
- Identify the subject and the object: Determine what has increased in intensity or volume and what or who is causing this increase.
- Place the subject and the object in the sentence: The subject should be the one causing the increase, while the object is what is experiencing the increase.
- Insert the phrasal verb Turn Up in the appropriate place in the sentence: This should come after the subject and before the object.
- Complete the sentence: Make sure the sentence makes sense and clearly conveys the idea of an increase in intensity or volume.
Remember that Turn Up is usually used in informal situations and can apply to various contexts such as music, noise, emotions, or activities. Here are a few more examples of how to use Turn Up in a sentence:
- “Can you turn up the TV? I can’t hear the news.”
- “The excitement in the room suddenly turned up when the surprise guest arrived.”
- “I love it when the bass in the song turns up during the chorus.”
Practice using Turn Up in different sentences to become more comfortable with its usage and to convey the idea of an increase effectively.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the phrase “turn up” can be used in various contexts to indicate different actions or situations. It can refer to arriving or showing up at a place, increasing the level or intensity of something, or even discovering unexpected information or results. “Turn up” is a versatile expression that can convey the idea of appearance, amplification, or revelation depending on the context in which it is used.
Whether it’s a friend turning up at a party, the volume being turned up on a music player, or a surprising development turning up during an investigation, this phrase is a simple yet flexible way to convey different meanings with just two words. Its usage can add clarity and depth to conversations by succinctly describing actions, changes, or outcomes.
