Turn out

Turn out

Okay, today we’re going to talk about the phrasal verb “turn out,” and its close cousin, the noun, “turnout.” Let’s start with “turn out” the phrasal verb. Before I start, I should warn you that “turn out” has a lot of different meanings; there are about four or five common ways to use “turn out,” but we’re going to talk about just one of them today. Earlier in the program, you heard that the opposition leaders in Russia can choose to boycott the election, or encourage their supporters to turn out in large numbers. In this instance, turn out means to show up, or to present yourself at a big event.

Let me give you a few examples. In the 2016 presidential election in the United States, 139 million people turned out to vote, the most ever. That means 139 million people went to vote. Remember on Thursday we talked about Groundhog Day? When I went to Punxsutawney, about 40,000 people turned out to see the groundhog on February 2. Last Sunday, the Super Bowl took place in Minnesota, and about 50,000 people turned out to see the game at the stadium, and thousands more turned out to party outside the stadium. So you can see here that “turn out” refers to people coming out to an event like an election, sporting event, or festivity.

Now let’s talk about “turnout,” which is just one word. This refers to the quantity of people who turned out for a particular event. Here are a few ways you can use it. Voter turnout in the 2016 American presidential election was strong, but it wasn’t as strong as the turnout in 2008, when Barack Obama first ran for president. Voter turnout usually means the percentage of eligible people who actually vote.

Imagine your friend has a party, but you can’t go because you have other plans. You might ask your friend the next day, “how was the turnout?” That means, did a lot of people come? The Olympics are coming up and it’s common in the weeks ahead to wonder what the turnout will be like. How many people are going to go to each event? If the turnout is low, then it’s embarrassing for the Olympics and for the host country; they don’t want a lot of empty seats on television. Olympic organizers are hoping that a lot of people turn out to see the events in person.

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