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Everyday English · Travel & getting around

Turn up

Arrive or appear, sometimes unexpectedly.

You arrive or appear somewhere. It is common in conversation, especially when talking about whether someone came or when they arrived.

Plain-English lessonVisual explanation3 practice steps

01 · Picture the situation

Understand it in three steps

01An event is planned
02People travel there
03Someone arrives

Imagine this: Your friends arrange to meet at a café at three. Ben arrives at 3:15. Ben turns up fifteen minutes late.

02 · Hear it in everyday life

Examples you can use

Three natural sentences

  1. Only six people turned up for the class.
  2. She turned up at my door with flowers.
  3. I hope everyone turns up on time.

A short conversation

PERSON ADid Arun come to the meeting?
PERSON BYes, he turned up just before it started.

Read the conversation aloud. Then swap roles and try it again without looking.

03 · Build your sentence

How to use turn up

For arriving, use person + turn up. You can add at + a place, for + an event, or a timing phrase such as late. Do not add a direct object in this meaning.

BASE FORMturn up
PAST SIMPLEturned up
AFTER HAVE / HASturned up

The base form is used after can, will and to. The past simple describes a finished past event. The third form follows have or has, for example when connecting an earlier action to now.

A common mistake to avoid

Use thisShe turned up at the office.
Avoid this in this meaningShe turned up the office.

At introduces the place where she arrived. Without at, the sentence does not express the arrival meaning correctly.

Do not confuse it: Arrive is neutral and works in formal writing. Turn up is more conversational and can suggest an unexpected or noteworthy arrival, although a surprise is not required.

Does it have another meaning?

Turn something up means increase a setting: “Turn the volume up.” That has an object and is different from a person turning up.

Learn the meaning and sentence pattern together. Small words such as up and off do not have one fixed meaning in every expression.

04 · Make it stick

Try it for yourself

Choose an answer before opening the explanation. Then make a sentence about your own life.

1. A friend arrives at your party. They…
  1. turn up
  2. turn the party up
  3. take off the party
Check answer 1

A. turn up

In this use, turn up means arrive.

2. Only ten people turned up ___ the workshop.
  1. for
  2. with
  3. by
Check answer 2

A. for

For connects the arrival with the event they came to attend.

3. Your turn

Write about someone turning up late or early.

See a possible model and self-check

Only six people turned up for the class.

This is one model, not the only correct answer. Check that your sentence uses the meaning taught here, the right verb form and the word order above. Change the person, place or time to make it your own.